Curse The World And Mean It
by storytellers
Summary: Finally! The long awaited full-fledged Rampage/Depth Charge non-comedy romance! You know you WANT to read it! Unless you really detest slash which this story obviously is. *shrug* Oh, and don't worry, it has an actual plot and all other characters in it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Hasbro owns the Beast Wars. I'm not Hasbro.

A/N: I have the strange feeling this thing has been brewing for years at the back of the minds of numerous BW fans. There have been some fics out there with vaguely slashy hints but nothing more. It seems that the Providence finally decided I should be the one to write the full-fledged RP/DC love story.

What eventually got the ball rolling was me recently rereading a comment by Lady Dementia in one of her fics (which if you haven't read you should not be calling yourself a BW fan!) about how easy it would be to turn the fic into a romance between those two.

Well, this comment kind of stayed with me. Would it really be easy? I mean, really, they're mortal enemies and with a good reason! It's not like their ancestors started a fight some 100 years ago and they were just caught in-between which is what you usually get in novels. The idea was bugging me so, with LD busy with much more important things like Life for example, I had no choice but to try and write it myself.

So here's chapter one and I hope you enjoy.

It was the most logical thing. He had no idea why he hadn't thought of it earlier. It was so slaggin' obvious! Was that the reason he hadn't been able to recapture Protoform X? Because he had become so blinded by hate that he was too stupid to do something cleverer than have pointless fights with an enemy that was just too strong?

But that was the end of it. Today. Now.

Not that it had been easy.

He was a mess. One of his legs was pretty badly injured and a large piece of his chest plate was missing, revealing his spark. He kept his left hand there to protect it from harm but he would need a CR chamber and quick. At least his flight mode was still working so he would be able to return to base.

But not before he was done here.

Because, in the end, all of the injuries had been worth it!

A small cage was held firmly in his right hand with the shimmering core of a spark inside it. X's spark!

He had stumbled upon X and Megatron while he was flying around the area searching for his nemesis. The reason the crab hadn't noticed him and alerted his leader was because Megatron was squeezing his spark at that moment.

And Depth Charge had gotten a sudden inspiration.

Wrestling the spark-cage from the tyrant had almost gotten him killed but thankfully the fight had caused X a considerable amount of pain and he hadn't been able to really join in. Otherwise Depth Charge would have been scrap by now with two of the strongest bots on Earth against him.

With a painful effort he pushed himself to his feet from on top of the unconscious Megatron. His optics never left the crab, who was still on the ground a few feet away. He limped towards him, his next move forming in his head.

He had always known it was unlikely he would have the means to kill his enemy on the spot. He could only capture him and then restrain him and execute him with help from others. He had already spent some thought on how that might work.

With the spark-cage in his possession, the killer was no danger. He could call the rest of the Maximals and they would take the wretched freak back to the Axalon, extract the rest of his spark, put it all in a box, place it somewhere where there was unstable energon and detonate it from a distance. This was sure to kill anyone, even someone like X…

The large red transformer in front of him attempted to push himself up and Depth Charge's hand convulsed around the spark core he was carrying. X dropped back to the ground with a strangled cry of pain. Depth Charge released the pressure but remained ready to clench his fist again at the smallest movement.

But why had he even unclenched it to begin with? X deserved to suffer, didn't he?

His spark pulsing with hatred, Omicron's only survivor squeezed again, as hard as he could. The robot on the ground convulsed once more, unable to even scream and Depth Charge let all of his pain and hatred poor into his grip. Past friendships and loves, hopes and dreams transfigured themselves into poison that ran trough his veins and powered his muscles.

He ran out of fuel more quickly than he had thought he would. Tears were running down his face and he felt more drained than he had ever felt. His palm opened up and he stared at the small blue orb that shimmered inside the cage.

The spark.

A symbol of life.

It was said that every time a spark was born, the universe rejoiced. Had it rejoiced at the birth of this one? How could something so beautiful be evil?

His optics focused once again on the bot, who had destroyed his life and those of many others. He looked at him for what seemed like ages, unable to comprehend the existence of such a monster. Finally, all he could do was utter that single helpless question, so pathetic and so clichéd.

"Why?"

He had asked it before and only gotten answers along the lines of 'I felt like it'. But there had to be a better answer and he would get it this time.

Green optics powered up and looked at him.

"Why?" Protoform X echoed his voice and expression unreadable except for the pain still present in them. "You want to know why, old friend? Do you want to know for real? Because I want you to know as well!"

Depth Charge stared in confusion as Xs chest plate slid open, revealing what had remained of his spark. What could he possibly…

The attack was completely unexpected. The crab lunged forward and only had the strength to make two steps but it was enough to reach Depth Charge. The ray's injured leg collapsed beneath him and he fell on his back with the killer on top of him. In an attempt to stop him, Depth Charge had flung his left hand away from the gaping wound over his spark and their chests were now pressed together.

And Xs spark touched his.

The contact lasted no more than three nanos but felt like a lot longer and for those few moments Depth Charge was completely overwhelmed by what he felt.

Memories that were not his own flashed trough his mind, echoes of sensations he had never experienced sent shivers trough his body and he couldn't bear to feel or see any of it any longer.

More out of instinct than any conscious thought, he managed to roll over and push the other body away. The crab curled up in pain. Depth Charge realized he had been gripping the spark-cage again and let up. He stood up shakily, his whole body trembling and his mind almost completely paralyzed.

He took a few shuddering breaths, put the cage in a subspace, transformed to his flight mode and took off leaving the killer behind.

A/N: Please be kind and review! Pretty please with sugar on it! Unless you are either DC or Rampage in which case… I'm not giving you my new address!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Blablabla, Beast Wars belong to Hasbro, making no profit.

A/N: Yahoo, another chapter and a proper long one! Thanks to the total of two people who reviewed, I'm really hoping there would be more in the future because feedback really makes me write :).

**Chapter two**

_Dedicated to Dalgaroth for the rare gift of a properly long review_

With an internal sigh of relief Rampage finally reached the underwater cave he sometimes used as a hideout.

When he had heard the rest of the Predacons approach he had dragged himself out of sight as quickly as possible. He would have much preferred to have the time to kill Megatron but he was too weakened to fight all of them off.

No matter. Maybe he would get his hands on the tyrant later. Now that Megatron did not have his spark anymore, it would be a child's play to kill him.

The crab dimmed his optics slowly, feeling the ocean currents stroke his beast mode's shell, caressing away the remaining soreness in his body. Unfortunately that did nothing for the throbbing of his spark. But most of that would go away as well, given enough time.

What worried him though, was who had the other half of his spark right now.

The last Guardian.

Omicron's sole survivor.

Why had he even left him alive to begin with?

In the cool underwater darkness and behind his shut optics the crab allowed himself to remember.

The first escape had not been a planned one. He had hardly been a sentient being back then, his knowledge of the world close to zero, his mind clouded by the relentless pain from never ending experiments. He didn't think, he just felt. Like an injured wild animal he just lashed out at everything and everyone every chance he got.

There was a great big cauldron of rage boiling inside him at any given time. This wasn't surprising, everyone who had heard about him could have guessed that.

But there was also fear.

No one would ever believe that the murderous indestructible Protoform X could be afraid of anything but back then, he was. He was afraid of the pain, of the next experiment, of the people who had absolute power over him.

When someone hurts you, you're afraid they will do it again; it was as simple as that.

He hadn't even fully realized that he was an empath before the escape. The scientists were mostly emotionless around him and his own raging emotions drowned whatever he might have felt from them. Only after he had broken free had he found out he could feel others' sparks.

The very fact that he had managed to escape was more a stroke of luck than anything else…

He shuddered at the thought of still being back there right now. He despised Megatron but being his slave, even with the frequent and sometimes uncalled for punishments, was a lot better that what his early life had been like.

He didn't have enough knowledge or even sanity to plot back then. All he knew was that he wanted to be left alone. So he always struggled. Against the bonds, against the guards, against the scientists, even when that meant more pain. They complained how hard he was to deal with and how stupid, how he would try to break free all the time even though he should have learned by then that it wouldn't work.

And one day they just hadn't been fast enough and the bonds hadn't been strong enough and it _had_ worked.

He hadn't been completely aware of what was happening at first. He had just torn his way trough the labs in blind rage and fear that they would catch him before he could get away from all this. He had slaughtered everyone in his way. And that's when he had started to realize he could sense their fear, their pain…

He had managed to get out of the labs and hide in the dark alleys of the city, still frightened and not knowing what to do next but free for the first time in his life.

He had sat there in the darkness, as his mind had finally started to wake from its stupor and attempt to get organized.

And just then…

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"Hey!"

X's head snapped up, his optics wide as the bright beam of a flashlight appeared on the other end of the alley. His first instinct was to run but, oddly enough, it was his Maximal programming that stopped him. It was buried deep down and twisted from torture and lack of interaction with others but it was still there, like a faint little voice at the back of his mind.

_You need help. If you find the good guys, they will help you. He might be one of them._

X tensed ready to attack or run. But he didn't just yet.

"Hey, are you all right there?"

_Listen to his voice, he doesn't sound like his after you._

"I…" he managed to croak out. "Not really…"

The light fell on his mech-fluid-covered body and the owner of the voice gasped.

"What happened to you? Are you hurt?"

"No… not anymore… The labs…" He struggled with the vocabulary he had to form an understandable explanation of what had happened as the other bot walked towards him.

But when he was just a few steps away his radio boomed in the quiet evening air startling both of them.

//To all Guardians! There has been a mass murder in the research center. The killer is still on the loose!//

What followed was a detailed description of Protoform X.

The robot with the flashlight stood frozen on the spot until the radio fell silent, ruby optics large and fixed on the huge transformer before him.

_No, you don't understand!_ X thought but didn't have time to voice it as the other bot reached for his gun.

And that was enough.

X lunged forward. A shot was fired but he barely felt it. The other transformer watched in awe as the wound healed and barely managed to react when a large fist swung at him and missed him by an inch. He himself was about as large as his attacker but he hadn't really been prepared for someone who could regenerate at such an amazing speed. Then and there he stood no chance and after a brief battle he was knocked offline.

X ran again, stopping at a dark corner to catch his breath.

_I knew he wouldn't help. No one will. No one ever has. _

_Because they don't understand! _His twisted Maximal programming reasoned again.

_If they understood they would never do this! If they knew what it was like they would stop, they would not hunt you down, they would help. They just don't understand!_

"I'll make them understand!" X growled to himself.

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That's how the Omicrom massacre had begun. And as soon as he had felt how afraid they were of him he wasn't afraid anymore. He never wanted to be afraid again.

Ever since then his spark had burned with desire to show the world what it had done to him, making his victims scream in terror and agony in his hands.

But it never quite worked because they just died.

They had the freedom to die and escape it all.

He didn't.

And so they never really knew.

That's why he had let Depth Charge live. It was a little experiment of his own based on the idea that if no one understood because they died, maybe if kept someone alive, there was hope yet to find a way to show them.

Stupid, stupid glitch in his processor that always brought him trouble! And yet he couldn't bring himself to end it. Because of it, he had been captured once and now he was technically captured again. With the spark cage in his possession the Guardian could make him do whatever he wanted. Why hadn't he tried to destroy him yet? It was probably just the shock of what had happened.

And what _had_ happened really?

He wasn't sure what he was doing when he forced their sparks to touch. It was a desperate move. He honestly believed Depth Charge would find a way to destroy him this time and he refused to be gone from this world without _someone_ realizing what the Maximals had done to him.

The result had surprised him as much as it had surprised the ray. It was different than what he could feel with his empathic abilities. He could usually register others' feelings but it wasn't as if they were his own. What he had felt this time though were Depth Charge's emotions as the Guardian himself experienced them.

The deep dull ache that the memory of Omicron had become, the rage, the hatred…

Not much, really, because the ray had fought the contact and hadn't let him in too deep.

Rampage thought the experience was somewhat curious. It wasn't pleasant but it wasn't like he had never felt those same things himself. He knew all about rage and hatred and despite what anyone else might think he knew about loss as well. His sorrow when Transmutate, the only friend he had ever had, had died had been just as powerful as Depth Charge's.

Yes, he was sure he knew his old playmate inside and out. Unfortunately, despite the ray's claims, the same was not true the other way around or at least not until now.

He could only hope than _now_ Depth Charge knew him as well as he had previously only thought he did.

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The Maximals backed away startled as the CR chamber suddenly shook. A few dents appeared on the door, courtesy to a large fist and it opened, steam streaming from it and dissipating to reveal a wild-looking Depth Charge.

The crew of the Axalon stared in shock at the tall teal transformer who looked around the room as if he was seeing it for the first time. Recognition finally registered in his optics and he let out a breath.

"Hey, what was that for, Capt'n Minnow?" Rattrap finally ventured.

"I… had… a nightmare." Depth Charge said a little uncertainly, glancing at the dented CR door behind him.

"Must've been quite a bad one…" Cheetor muttered causing the ray to glare at him.

He did not like his personal issues being exposed to the rest of the Maximals. So they would do better not to acknowledge the situation at all.

"Er, I think the CR is still working, you should finish the repair cycle." Rhinox suggested. "You are still not fully…"

"No! Depth Charge almost shouted. "I mean… I think I will be better off finishing the repairs on my own. I feel well enough." He said a little less heatedly.

He left the command room and the base before anyone could even think to stop him.

His comrades looked at each other.

"What the slag was all that?" Rattrap asked.

Optimus just shrugged.

"He's a bot with a lot of issues. Maybe it's better to leave him alone."

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Depth Charge finally landed on the soft yellow sand of a small beach. He debated going into the water, he usually found the blue depths calming, but on this particular occasion he wanted remain under the sun. To be able to see the sky.

Staying on shore would leave him more open for an attack than going under where no one besides X could follow him but he felt he was repaired enough to hold his own against anyone besides the crab. And for the crab he had something else if he turned out stupid enough to look for him.

He transformed to his robot mode and leaned his back on a tree at the edge of the sand. Gazing at the sparkling blue of the ocean, he tried to clear away the images that were trying to carve themselves in his brain.

It hadn't been a nightmare. Or at least not his nightmare…

He had never wanted to know more about Protoform X's life than he already knew because he was convinced absolutely nothing could possibly change his view of the killer.

Or maybe… he was just starting to realize… Maybe he hadn't wanted to know more because he was afraid it might actually make him hesitate before delivering the finishing blow. And then he would fail and more lives would be lost because of his… naivety? Would he really make himself believe he should look for something else in his enemy besides a deranged desire to kill? Naivety? Is that what had made him feel concern instead of suspicion for that stranger on the street long ago?

He couldn't get rid of the feeling that if he had been faster then, more prepared to fight, less surprised… he could have prevented so many murders right then and there.

Being a Maximal was his weakness.

The characterizing quality of his faction was not "goodness" as many were lead to believe but thirst of knowledge. That could be a good or a bad thing. But Maximals asked questions. They wanted to know the 'whys' and 'hows' and 'whens' of the world and, worst of all, sometimes they wanted to find out the 'ifs' as well. That's what often stopped them from destroying things like the Predacons did – the possibility that they might learn something interesting if they _didn't_ destroy them.

That was why Depth Charge had tried to suppress everything Maximal about himself. That was why he was a loner - to keep others from influencing him.

Because Rampage _had_ to be destroyed…

… and he had just started calling him Rampage because that's what the crab called himself and the memories Depth Charge had now insisted that was his name.

Slag.

For stellar cycles he had managed to keep the questions at bay just to be slapped in the face with the answers now!

And the answers were…

The sheer agony and hopelessness of being endlessly experimented on, ignored, humiliated, treated like a possession…

He had only felt it for a few moments and he had thought he would go insane. It had felt physically and emotionally like the walls of the world were closing in on him and squashing him… He would have to avoid small spaces for a while.

And that had been just a glimpse of the mind of the infamous Omicron murderer.

He caught himself morbidly wondering what the whole thing looked like. And that's when he knew he had completely lost control over the situation.

He shouldn't have let Rampage… so close.

Did the crab even know what exactly he had done or had he just acted on impulse?

Was it possible that he had never… that he had no idea…

It was possible.

From what Depth Charge knew of his enemy, he had rarely ever had any interaction with other bots besides killing. So it was possible that he wasn't completely aware of what had happened.

That at least was some comfort. To think that he had known what he was doing and done it on purpose would be… just too weird.

But what happened now?

The right thing to do was to use the half-spark to capture him and go with his old plan…

But…

No. Pandora's box had been opened and his slaggin' inquisitive Maximal nature wanted to know more. To find everything about something before destroying the opportunity.

Oh… _that_'s what it was.

He had once wondered what in the Universe would drive those scientists to create such a monster and that's what it was. Need to know.

He had once heard about some scientists on Earth who had found a way to recreate extinct creatures like the ones Megatron's beast mode had come from. They must have known it would be a disaster, there must have been a gazillion warning signs but it was too fascinating an opportunity to pass. Just like the Protoform X project, it had ended in loss of life… and still, they had done it.

There was always the other side of knowledge, of course. The better side. Knowledge had also helped civilizations survive, prevent disasters and make the right decisions…

He could only hope it would help him in the same way instead of causing a disaster because Primus, he was unable to stop himself. He _had_ to know.

With a sigh he stood up and set off to find Rampage.

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A/N: *Chuckles* Sorry, couldn't help the Jurassic Park reference. It's one of my all time favorite movies. So, please tell me what you guys think or at least let me know that you are reading. All opinions are welcome; I find them very interesting to read. And speculations are a lot of fun :)! See you in the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Hasbro and therefore I do not own the Beast Wars. And I'm making no profit. BTW, how do you even own a war?

**A/N:** HEY, EVERYONE! You can now watch my Beast Wars reviews on youtube. The name is selfxmadexstar and they are called Rainy Reviews if anyone's interested. The first one's out.

Also, I want to clear something up. I was surprised that no one asked about DC crying in chapter one. I was almost looking forward to someone confronting me with the argument that robots can't cry. Actually, I believe there is a completely legitimate reason for why they do have tear-ducts. Kind of like washing the windshield of your car. If your optics get dirty, how the Pit do you clean them, huh? It's what human tears are used for half the time as well. They just so happen to appear as a side effect of being upset too. Same with robots. So yeah, they can cry.

This chapter is a bit more action-y, in contrast with the last one.

Enjoy!

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**Chapter 3**

The atmosphere at the Predacon base was tense as Waspinator, Inferno and Quickstrike waited for their leader to emerge from the CR tank. Tarantulas was nowhere to be seen.

"Wazzzpinator think zpider-bot leave because zzpider-bot smart. If Wazzpinator wazz smart, Wazzpinator leave too!" the wasp-bot buzzed miserably, twitching his wings in nervousness and fear. His buzzing was even worse in this state.

"We cannot abandon the Colony when it is in danger, drone!" Inferno admonished him. "We will stay here and wait for the Queen to give us orders."

"An' what if the Maximals attack, before the boss is repaired?" Quickstrike asked.

"Then we will defend the Queen and the Colony with our lives!" Inferno answered immediately.

"Ant-bot crazy." Waspinator declared decisively. "Wazzpinator get scrapped for Megatron enough. Wazzpinator not going against all Maximalzz PLUS crab-bot!"

"He's right!" Quckstrike agreed. "It would be suicide!"

"Are you a traitor to the Colony?"

Inferno pointed his flamethrower at him and the fuzor shook his head quickly.

But privately he was considering the option of just going ahead and handing himself over to the Maximals. Megatron had been conscious enough when they had found him to inform them that he no longer had Rampage's spark. And as much as the fuzor liked to fight, the killer crab was one bot he would much rather not fight with.

The floor suddenly shook as the T-Rex entered the command room. The three other bots took a step back. Megatron looked murderous.

"Wretched fish!" he growled at nobody in particular and strode up to the computer.

"What are ya doin', boss?" Quickstrike questioned carefully. Megatron looked like a walking death threat.

"Trying to find that cursed Maximal on the radar, of course!" the tyrant snapped irritably.

His troops exchanged glances.

"Won't we attack the enemy colony before they attack us first, my Q-, er, Royalty?" Inferno asked, catching himself just before the offending title left his mouth.

"Optimus may not even have the spark, you imbecile and I swear, if you call me Queen today you will be sorry!"

Megatron's voice could have melted steel. Inferno gained the appearance of a kicked puppy. The leader of the Predacons had never sounded so vicious when addressing his most loyal servant. Waspinator and Quickstrike cringed back in fear. They were both beginning to think this was a lose-lose situation. A mighty killer might be waiting for them outside and there was another one right here.

"That stupid ray might have tried to destroy it on his own." Megatron murmured more to himself than his troops as he searched for the right frequency. "Or Rampage might have gotten to him and taken the spark back. That would not be a good thing, noo…"

He was furious at the world in general because he couldn't find anyone but himself to blame for what had happened. This was more than a major disadvantage. If the Maximals really had the spark-box and decided to use the crab against them, the Predacons would not stand a snowball's chance in the lava pits. Not only were they outnumbered but his troops currently consisted of three complete idiots. Waspinator was close to useless anyway. Quickstrike wasn't exactly a great warrior either. Inferno was loyal and reasonably skilled in battle but he never did anything without being ordered to and he was dumb as a rock. Rampage had not only been his strongest soldier but the only one with brains as well. Well, not counting Tarantulas but the spider was becoming more untrustworthy every day. He was probably in his secret lair plotting right now. Or just hiding from Rampage. Either way he wasn't going to be of any service. This was a disaster. Megatron focused on the screen again. There was the tiny dot that interested him.

"Hmmm… It appears that our friend is still functional and he is not in the Maximal base. In fact, he's on our territory. The scanner also detects that he has the spark." Megatron's mood suddenly improved visibly. "Interesting, yess. I don't believe he has told the other Maximals that he has it."

"But what is he still doin' on our grounds, boss?"

"What does it matter, my dear Quickstrike? Find him, destroy him and get me back the spark! In fact, I think I'll come as well, yess. I won't leave such an important mission in the hands of incompetent fools."

Inferno looked disappointed at his leader's distrust but he quickly covered it.

"For the glory of the Colony!"

The ant saluted and exited the room followed by Quickstrike who was yahooing at the prospect of a battle that did not include Rampage. Waspinator tagged after them with much less enthusiasm, anticipating bad luck as always. Megatron's footsteps thundered last. He would tear the ray limb from limb to get him back for their last encounter. Depth Charge might be used to fighting Rampage but the T-Rex was planning on upstaging the crab today.

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Optimus Primal stared at the screen in disbelief and anger. None of the Maximals had noticed anything strange while Depth Charge was in the CR chamber because none of them had been looking for Predacon signatures _inside_ the Axalon. After the ray had left, Rhinox had glanced at the screen and noticed that Rampage's spark signature was almost overlapping with the Maximal's. At first he and Optimus had decided the two enemies were simply fighting again. But Depth Charge was moving fast, which indicated that he was flying. Unless he had decided to take the crab for a ride, this just didn't seem possible.

Several possibilities crossed Optimus' mind and the only plausible one was that the ray had somehow managed to get Rampage's spark from Megatron and hadn't said a word about it to his teammates. That went beyond disrespectful and disobedient!

"Hey, Big Banana, that dim-witted tuna's taking a stroll on enemy grounds!"

Rattap was not happy with Depth Charge right now either but for the very, very well trained listener, there was the slightest hint of worry detectable in his voice.

Optimus half-groaned half-growled.

"What does he think he's doing?" Rhinox wondered just as the ray's signature flickered and disappeared, probably due to the energon interference at such a distance.

"It doesn't matter." Optimus said decisively. "If I'm sure of one thing, it's that Megatron will try to take that spark back. We have to go and help him… whether he deserves it or not. If Rampage is out of the equation, we definitely outnumber them so it shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah. If we get there on time." Rattrap commented and suddenly got the horrible feeling that they should have left earlier.

He clearly remembered the last time one of their comrades was alone against all Predacons and they had been too late to help.

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Depth Charge was just starting to realize exactly how stupid he had been, looking for the crab so close to the Predacon base. He was so used to focusing on Rampage as the only real threat that he really hadn't considered the possibility of the rest of the Predacons blowing him to smithereens.

And that possibility was becoming realer by the nano.

He was a strong bot, experienced in battle and also a flyer.

The problem was, he was fighting against two other flyers, one of whom wasn't half bad at hitting him and there were two other bots on the ground also trying to get him down.

Ironically, it was Waspinator who finally managed to deliver the shot that sent him plummeting to the ground.

He had just managed to hit Inferno and he had done a back flip in midair to avoid Megatron's missile. Unfortunately, that had sent him right into the wasp's line of fire.

A large cloud of dust and a small crater indicated the place where the former Guardian had hit the dirt. He tried to shake his head to clear away the dizziness. His tear-ducts were working frantically to clean his optics so he could see again. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw trough the smudged dirt was Megatron's gloating face and the barrel of his gun a moment later. He tried to force his mind to form some kind of strategy but even if he had been able to ignore the splitting headache and the fact that his whole body was shorting, there really was nothing he could do to avoid the blast. He heard the click as Megatron's gun prepared to blow his head up.

But before the tyrant could fire, there was a roar and the sound of two metal bodies crashing together. Depth Charge tried frantically to clear his vision and lift himself from the ground only to find that Rampage had just knocked the tyrannosaur to the ground and the two were wrestling viciously. The ray didn't pause to think what was going on because Quickstrike and Waspinator had already managed to gather their wits and were attacking him. Normally he would have no problem fighting just those two off but he was already badly injured and his computer insisted on stasis lock. He overrode it angrily but he wasn't sure for how long he would be able to stand his ground. He should have called for backup but there simply hadn't been enough time when the Predacons had ambushed him.

He didn't manage to dodge on time and Quickstrike's shot got him in the shoulder. He staggered backwards and fell, avoiding another shot from Waspinator by pure chance. His vision started to darken and he felt his consciousness slipping for a few moments.

Just then Waspinator was blown to pieces in the air and some of his remains rained around Depth Charge.

It had been Optimus' shot that had gotten the bug while Quickstrike took cover to avoid being scrapped by Silverbolt. Depth Charge looked to the side and saw that Megatron was now off line and Rampage had turned to face the Maximals. He didn't have the energy to shout a warning as the crab lifted his missile launcher and fired at the flying fuzor.

With a yelp of surprise and pain the winged wolf fell almost directly at the killer's feet.

Depth Charge's could only watch helplessly as the large transformer advanced on his victim, grabbing the other bot by the throat and lifting him off the ground. Optimus couldn't help either because he was dealing with Inferno who had recovered enough from Depth Charge's shot to fly again. For a few horrible clicks the Guardian could practically see in his mind the killer tearing apart his teammate and extinguishing his spark.

And then Rampage tossed the fuzor away. Silverbolt hit a rock and slid down, off line for the time being but not dangerously hurt. The crab cast a quick hateful glance to Megatron but, obviously deciding he could not take his chances since Cheetor and Rattrap had just arrived at the scene, transformed to his tank mode and started driving away.

Depth Charge gaped in utter disbelief but before he could even start asking himself what had happened, excruciating pain split his abdomen and he blacked out completely.

Rampage also shrieked in agony. Megatron had not been as off line as he had appeared and his precise shot had hit the subspace compartment where Depth Charge kept the spark. A glimpse of the shimmering orb could now be seen trough the crack in his metal. Megatron made an attempt to reach the ray but was shot several times by both Optimus and Rattrap.

"Retreat!" the Predacon leader shouted reluctantly, seeing that he didn't have a chance. The best he could do was at least escape with his life and avoid being taken prisoner. Inferno and Quickstrike quickly followed. Quickstrike even had the grace to spare a glance at the scattered remains of Waspinator but they really couldn't take the time to salvage him now.

"Let them go!" Optimus ordered when Silverbolt and Cheetor made to follow the escaping enemies. "We have other problems here."

His gun was pointed at the transformed crab who was still shuddering in pain, streaks of energy crackling all over his form.

"How bad is he?" the Maximal leader asked, turning to Rattrap. The rat was kneeling next to Depth Charge.

"Eh, he's alive fearless leader but he's gonna need a CR as soon as we can get him one."

"Get the spark from him. I'll take him back to base. The rest of you will have to deal with Rampage."

The tank glared at him in hatred.

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**A/N:** COMMENT OR I'LL EAT YOU!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own Beast Wars and the whole Transformers universe and a villa on the Bahamas… not.

**Horrible Self-indulgent ****Advertisement:** I FINALLY managed to upload the slaggin' thing on Youtube! My internet connection has been evil lately. But now you can watch the review of episode 1 of Beast Wars. I'm not awfully good at this but hey, it's still funny! I'll get better with time. If you wanna watch it, search for Yana Aleksandrova or selfxmadexstar. Take a look at it. *puppy eyes*

**A/N:** I'm not particularly happy with this as a chapter, I know it's slow-paced. But oh, well, we had action in the last one. It's just that when DC tries to think it takes ages. *ducks behind the desk to avoid one of DC's amazing flying pizzas fired in her direction*. All right, all right!

And also… I SWEAR Rattrap came out of nowhere and demanded to take over part of the plot. I would've said no but… he's so damn cute when he goes ratty eyes on me.

**Chapter four**

Depth Charge hated dreaming. He hadn't had a good dream for ages and he had mostly forgotten those even existed. For him, it was either nightmares or at least confusing chaotic images that prevented him from recharging properly. That was also part of the reason he wasn't fond of CR chambers and preferred self-repairing whenever he could.

This however was not one of those cases. He had really taken a beating this time, he could tell by the numbness of his limbs, the complete energy drain and coldness he felt and the awareness that more than half of his systems were not functioning properly.

He owed Primal his life. Slag it but it was true. If Optimus hadn't brought him to the base as fast as he had, he would have been a goner. And he couldn't blame anyone but himself, really. He would not have much excuse to snap at the Maximal commander now.

That really irritated him. He would actually have to bow his head and say thanks.

He would also have to get the spark back though. Gratitude was not the same as trust and he didn't trust the other Maximals with something so dangerous.

Not that he could entirely trust himself either after the last stunt he had pulled. Megatron would have gotten the spark back if the others hadn't arrived. Slag, he had really messed up… Ever since that… thing… that had happened with him and Rampage he hadn't been thinking clearly at all.

Speaking of which, Rampage should probably be grateful it was the Maximals who had the spark too. If Megatron had gotten his hands on it after the crab had attacked him… Well, let's just say he would probably have done things even Depth Charge would not dare, as much as he hated his enemy.

That brought him back to his dream. It was strange, dreaming and spacing out of your own dream. It was even more confusing than regular dreaming. At least he was aware he _was_ dreaming. That happened sometimes. The problem was, he couldn't wake up.

He knew what he was seeing wasn't real but he still found it very disturbing.

To tell the truth, it wasn't completely unreal either.

It was some weird mixture of Rampage's memories and his own perspective.

The effect of their contact had decreased somewhat with the time that had passed so he didn't feel like he was in Protoform X's place anymore.

Instead, he was standing a few feet away, watching the scientists prepare their equipment.

It was oddly quiet which somehow made it worse. He wasn't sure if the robot on the lab table was so silent because they had gagged him or because this dream simply had the sound turned off.

He knew he couldn't be off line though. Sedatives and anesthesia did not work on Rampage. He had found that in the few records he could recover from the Research Center right after Omicron was destroyed. The only thing that could knock the immortal out was very, very extensive damage.

The damage those scientists were about to do would probably not be extensive enough.

Which was worse, when you thought about it.

He kept watching them prepare.

And doing nothing.

Why wasn't he doing anything?

Whoever was directing this dream was a jerk.

What those scientists were about to do was wrong!

Of course, he hadn't just realized that. He had always thought it had been wrong. But only because they had put the colony in danger and indirectly caused its destruction. He had had dreams before when he was back on Omicron, screaming at 'bots, trying to warn everyone but no one was listening.

… Now there was someone else screaming and he wasn't listening either. He was self-analyzing instead and watching passively from afar as a team of weak, small in size robots that you would never think had much power over anyone, waved blades, drills and other equipment, playing Primus on somebody else's life.

Blast it, this dream really sucked! It wasn't the first time he had felt useless but in his other dreams at least he was usually uselessly doing something, not uselessly doing nothing.

For the first time he thought he should have stopped this at that very moment. Not when their experiment went wrong, not when he escaped, not when he murdered someone. But right then, when the first innocent got hurt. He did not want to admit it but this robot he was seeing right now, this shadow, this memory… was completely innocent.

All he was guilty of was being alive.

Was this the first experiment Depth Charge was witnessing now?

Did Protoform X already know what awaited him?

Maybe he had been a psychopath to begin with.

Maybe his mind was twisted from the moment he was created.

Maybe he would have turned out a killer anyway.

But you could not possibly base an excuse for this on maybes. No one had the right to punish for uncommitted crimes.

And the extraordinary thing was Depth Charge had never actually known exactly what had happened in those labs.

And he had never asked.

Who could he ask anyway? Everyone was dead. The only one left was Rampage himself and what a ridiculous idea it would be to ask him about his life story after he had just murdered a whole colony and a star base for desert. Ridiculous…

But what about before that? In that alley, that night? What if he had found out then?

Suddenly everything snapped into a completely different perspective.

What if that message trough the radio had come a little later? Would he have heard the other side of the story? Would he have believed it? Would he have listened? Would he? What those scientists had done was immoral and illegal. Would he have promised to help? Would he have taken the other 'bot to the station and alerted the rest of the Guardians and started an investigation according to procedure and… Could everything have been so… normal?

Depth Charge had always felt a certain amount of survivor's guilt; he had always been haunted by the irrational belief that he could have stopped the massacre. But up until now everyone had gone out of their way to tell him that there was nothing he could have done, that he had done his job right. And maybe subconsciously he had also reassured himself that that was the case. Tragedy had simply hit them and it was all X's fault.

But it came to him now, what he had always feared. The proof that it was his fault and all of the other Guardians'.

Because they hadn't done their jobs, had they? Something wrong was taking place, someone's rights were being violated, someone was being hurt and they hadn't stopped it.

They hadn't known?

It was their job to know!

Now that he looked back, there had been hints that something was wrong…

_Oh, primus, what am I doing? Am I blaming my comrades, all__ of those who died at his hands, for what that monster did? I don't know who I am or what I'm fighting for anymore… WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!?!_

As his processor went into overdrive images of the experiment he was witnessing mixed with old and new memories.

_A pair of green optics staring at him from the darkness of the alley._

A scientist held up a dissection tool.

"_You really want to know? Because I want you to know, too!"_

The blade was coming down.

_The killer just tossing Silverbolt away during the battle. Why?_

_No. It doesn't matter anymore._

With the hardness and will power trained by years of hunting an immortal killer, he slammed the door on all doubts and pity. They wouldn't help him now and they couldn't help Rampage anymore either.

Depth Charge had figured out long ago he could allow himself questions but not emotions. Knowledge was power. Feelings were not. All the passion in the world could not have saved Omicron. So he had left his feeling to die there as well.

He woke up just as the robot jerked on the table.

The repair cycle was complete.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rattrap was driving at full speed trough the wasteland. He was vaguely aware that he was out of comm. reach by now and entering Predacon territory so with an enormous exercise of will he slowed down and stopped beside a boulder, panting. If he had had enough breath left he would have been cursing out loud but it didn't really matter because he could hear himself in his mind just as well. Driving like the Pit had only had a moderate effect. He was still angry. He was so angry he was aching to do something stupid, just to get it back at them all! Why did everyone but him get to be idiots? The kiddo let his enthusiasm run away with him day in and day out and constantly ended up almost eaten by spiders or something equally idiotic. Even Optimus had already made half a gazillion world-saving self-sacrificing suicide attempts. But at least Optimus always came back eventually. How many slaggin' times can you get so lucky? He might have lent some of that luck to the rest of them…

Rattrap immediately felt guilty and bit his lip. It wasn't that he wanted anything to happen to Optimus. On the contrary, he secretly bit his nails every time his leader set off to do the next crazy dangerous thing and practically fell apart with relief when he came out of it alive. He just wished he could have done the latter for other 'bots as well.

It hadn't been his fault. It hadn't been. Depth Charge's stunt from today just proved that when 'bots were slaggin' morons they just went and did stupid things with or without you saying anything.

It hadn't been his fault!

And he couldn't really wish Dinobot hadn't gone out that day, could he? After all, then humanity might have been destroyed…

Rubbish! It was not possible that every single proto-human on the whole planet had been in that stupid valley! How many were there? Definitely not enough! If that population was all there was, the species would have disappeared anyway due to a too-small gene pool! He was an explorer after all, he knew some things!

_Maybe __Dinobot didn't._

Dinobot wasn't stupid! Well, he was, but not like that. He just didn't give a slag either way, did he? He just wanted to rub his great big HONORABLE death in everyone's faces! Rattrap cringed every time he heard the word "honor" from Silverbolt!

To die a hero. Puh! Dying a hero was easy! Living as a normal everyday ordinary 'bot with all of the stupid stuff you did and said… and the stuff you didn't say… that was what was hard.

He really did hate Predacons. Especially when they didn't act like Predacons should but suddenly turned all self-sacrificing. He really… really… slaggin'… _hated them_.

And even if humanity had really depended on that one valley…

Rattrap was having trouble shutting up the small relentless voice in his head that screamed _THEY SHOULD'VE SLAGGIN' DIED!_

He made a few steps away from the boulder, planning on starting his way back home. Then he stopped, deciding he wasn't finished. He whirled around and opened fire.

"DINOBOT YOU STUPID SLAG-SUCKING FOSSIL, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND KILL YOURSELF OVER SOME SILLY ALLEGIANCE ISSUES?! TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE? TO SET A TREND? YOU BET YOU DID, YOU EVIL IGUANA! SUICIDE IS ALL THE RAGE NOW! YOU MADE BEING AN ANTISOCIAL BROODING, SULKING NITWIT FASHIONABLE AND LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENED NOW! THE DUMB FISH HAS DECIDED BEING AN OUTSIDER IS COOL! WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE THE ONE MAXIMAL TREND I HATE AND GO ALL WORLD-SAVING DESPITE CONSEQUENCES? YOU-... YOU-…"

He was out of ammo, both literally and metaphorically.

Several nanos passed with him catching his breath and to his astonishment, the boulder slowly moved aside to reveal a trapdoor under it. It opened a little and Tarantulas cautiously pocked his head out.

"You knocked?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A/N:** Tehehehehe, bwahahaha, a cliffie ;P Next chapter's 85 % written, you get it as soon as I get my daily fix… of reviews, that is ;).


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** You should really know by now! Stop offering me money for dirty favors from transformers! They're not mine! You should really turn to Hasbro!

**A/N:** Just one review for the last chapter? You guys don't love me *sob*. Seriously, I can't write without inspiration! And feedback is the most inspiring thing. This chapter is only being posted because it was already written but I'll need something to power me for the next one. Yeah, I know I'm a review junkie, but on the bright side I also try to leave feedback to people, honest, I do… Love ya all anyway, here's chapter five.

**Chapter five**

Caught completely off-guard, Rattrap instinctively squeezed the trigger of his gun… which of course was empty after his half-deranged assault on the completely innocent boulder.

"I wouldn't try to kill me if I were you, tehehe." Tarantulas chuckled. "After listening to all of your screaming…"

Rattrap felt himself grow hot. He had heard all that? Slag.

"… I have a deal to offer."

The rat gathered his wits enough to take out a small explosive, take a step forward, force the trapdoor fully open and threaten to drop the bomb in the tunnel below.

"I'm not interested in any offers made by stinkin' Preds!"

"Even if the offer includes bringing another stinkin' Pred back from the dead?"

The Maximal froze, optics wide.

"Whaddya say?"

Tarantulas chuckled, seeing that his comment had hit home.

_This just __might turn out to be a very lucky day. _

After all, what were the odds of the rat stopping at that exact spot and spilling his core processor out like that?

"I can bring him back." The spider assured him. "Megatron's been planning it for ages for his own purposes. But if I do that, I'll want something in return."

"What?" Rattrap breathed, extremely suspicious but unable to stop the sudden mad pounding of his spark.

The transmetal tarantula climbed all the way out of his tunnel and faced the rat.

"I want to join the Maximals."

The short Maximal's jaw dropped.

"What? Forget it, Legs…" But he went no further, suddenly afraid that the scientist would really drop the proposal.

"Megatron's gonna lose this war." Tarantuas continued unfazed. "And then with a little help from me we might all be going back, tehehehe. But without me no one would be going back anywhere. Or coming back from anywhere either."

"I… I'll…" The metallic rat frowned, fighting an inner battle and losing on both ends. "I'll think about it." He said finally, transformed to vehicle mode and sped away.

"Tehehehe, you do that." Tarantulas' chuckle trailed after him.

Things had just started to look a little less gloomy for the spider than they had just a megacycle ago.

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Depth Charge stepped out of the CR and was immediately met with the sight of Optimus, sitting alone at the control room table, drumming his fingers on the surface and looking surprisingly thoughtful. Depth Charge stood where he was and waited for a scolding.

"You know," the Maximal leader began, not lifting his optics from the contemplation of his fingers, "six mega-cycles ago when I realized what you'd done without telling us, I was furious. Then four megacycles ago when I though we'd arrive to find you in pieces, I was scared. Three megacycles ago when I brought you here and I was quite sure you would survive, I was once again angry at you, this time for scaring us all to death. By the way, Rattrap is out of his mind, I think he'll beat the crap out of you once he finds out you are repaired. After what happened to Dinobot he's a bit sensitive about 'bots putting themselves in crazy suicidal situations. And I have been sitting here for the last three megacycles planning to give you the scolding of your life. You should probably be glad you were so badly damaged because about a megacycle ago I still wanted to forcibly knock some sense into you. But since I've had enough time to cool off, right now I just really want to know what can I possibly do so you would trust me?"

Optimus finally looked at him in exasperation and the ray just stared back in surprise. This was not exactly what he had expected.

"I did not want to be a leader in this war, Depth Charge, but I am and I'm afraid 'bots will die if I don't do my job right." Optimus continued. "I know you can relate to that. I made the choices I made because I thought I was doing the right thing, saving lives. All right, so you think I screwed up big time, on several occasions. Maybe you're right. I can't go back and fix it. But what do you want me to do right now? I need us to be a team because this way maybe we can all survive. And I cannot stand loosing any more friends! So if there's anything I can do to make you part of this team, let me know." He stood up but paused. "And I think you should be the one responsible for this." He took out the spark-cage and left it on the table, exiting the room and leaving the stunned ray to gape after him.

After a few nanos Depth Charge walked to the table and moved to take the spark and put it back in his subspace compartment. His hand froze inches away from it. Suddenly, he felt vaguely uncomfortable touching it. But there was nothing to it, he couldn't just leave it lying around, could he? And it would be weird to ask Optimus to take it, right after the commander had made the gesture of trusting him with it. The strange thing was, just a few cycles ago Depth Charge had been prepared to argue like the Pit to get that spark back and now he didn't want it. He sighed and grabbed the cage, pocketing it hastily. But there was no escaping the contact when your pockets were part of your body. He stilled for a moment, when he felt his subspace warming up slightly. He hadn't noticed it before but then again he had been too preoccupied. He shook his head, trying to ignore the feeling. He had to think of something else. Yeah, good luck with that right now when _everyone's_ thoughts were revolving around Rampage. He sighed again and, making up his mind, strode purposefully down the corridor. His head was heavy with too many questions but at least one he could try answering now.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In his holding cell in the lower levels of the ship Rampage exhaled in relief when he sensed his old playmate was in possession of his spark again. Not that he enjoyed having it anywhere outside his body but a familiar presence was at least preferable to the feeling of various Maximals tossing it back and forth among themselves. He hadn't been able to recharge at all! And even he needed to do that, especially with only half of his spark to rely on for repairs.

It crossed his mind that he just might not be exactly immortal like that. Had Depth Charge thought of that? Well, slag it, that actually bothered him very little right now. He was tired. He transformed to his beast mode and settled on the floor of the cell. With his optics shut down he was even more aware of the other robot's presence. It wasn't as unsettling as having anyone else hold his spark, after all he had known Depth Charge for the longest time and he was particularly attuned to him but… wow. He had rarely been _that_ close. He could feel the pulse of his enemy's spark as if it was right next to his own… which it kind of was. With nothing else to do, he listened to it for a while until he finally drifted off.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Slag and I thought CR chambers were supposed to make you feel better,_ Depth Charge thought bitterly as he knocked on the door of Silverbolt and Blackarachnia's shared quarters and then rubbed his temples.

He had almost been sure he would interrupt something but Silverbolt immediately answered the door, smiling and friendly as usual.

Actually, knowing Silverbolt, it was hard to imagine there was anything to interrupt.

Then again, knowing Blackarachnia, there certainly should have been.

"How can I help you, my friend?" the winged wolf asked cheerfully.

"I need to talk to you about something." Depth Charge informed him, catching a glimpse of Blackarachnia looking at him with mild curiosity.

"Of course, step in! I hide nothing from my beloved!"

Depth Charge hesitated but shrugged after a nano. He didn't see what could be so confidential about this conversation. Silverbolt offered him a chair and sat on the recharge platform next to his partner, looking at him expectantly.

The teal transformer reset his voice box.

"During the last battle… Rampage could have killed you and didn't. Do you happen to know why?"

The fuzor's expression became contemplating, then sad.

"I might have an idea."

Suddenly he looked positively miserable.

Blackaracnia sighed and abandoned the data pad she had been occupied with in favor of ruffling her lover's fur.

"You see, Bowser here is suffering the side effects of his sweet puppy personality. Lemme see… At one point… it was quite some time before you arrived… a pod fell down and was badly damaged. So the protoform inside emerged as this horribly deformed creature with the mental capacity of a newly formed spark. Rampage took a liking to her for some reason and so did Fluffy because he likes everyone. They kind of fought over who gets to keep her and ended up accidentally destroying her in the process. Proving that sometimes stupid males should just leave us girls the slag alone."

Silverbolt gave her a hurt look.

"But other times they shouldn't, Goofball." She quickly amended and gave him a quick kiss before returning to het data pad. The fuzor's expression quickly turned from gloomy to blissfully smacked over the head.

Depth Charge was frowning.

"Wait, you said Rampage took a liking to her? What the slag does that mean? Rampage doesn't like anyone he just hates the world in general."

Silverbolt shook his head.

"I know for sure that he truly and deeply cared for her. He considered her a kindred spirit and protected her. But I saw this too late, like everyone else I thought he wanted to lie to her and harm her. He was devastated when she died. She considered us both her friends and she was destroyed while trying to prevent us from hurting each other. I think maybe that's why he didn't want to damage me too badly. In her honor I suppose."

"Right…"

Depth Charge couldn't find anything to say. The story sound highly improbable but it clicked in place with some of the images in his head. This was just getting weirder and weirder. He was once again aware of the warmth in his subspace. He abruptly nodded his thanks and left, now heading in a new direction. He hated where this whole thing was going. For every question he asked he got exactly the answer he didn't want and ten more questions. There was no more avoiding it. He would have to talk to Rampage. Five nanos with the arrogant bastard and he would just want to kill him again instead of digging around for sob-stories.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A/N:**I am pointedly not reminding you to do you know what. *innocent*


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Beast Wars are still not mine. Shame.

**A/N:** Thanks yet again to Dalgaroth not only for being faithful but for starting an absolutely awesome BW fic with Rampage and Depth Charge in it. Go read it now! I command you! It's called "Beast Wars: Deep Impact".

I'll take this opportunity to advertise my BW reviews yet again since I'm posting the next one tomorrow morning. Most people who have watched the first are friends who live nearby so they just tell me their opinion face to face instead of commenting. I'd be happy to see at least one or two comments from people I don't see every day. In return, I promise to also post on youtube the song you'll find at the end of this chapter. I was looking for the right place to put it and well, this chapter seemed as good as place and better than most.

**Chapter six**

Depth Charge slowed down as he entered the hangar of the ship. The lights were off because it was already quite late. A large cage had been set up in the middle of the room and purple energy bars were glowing in the near darkness. Depth Charge half-expected two familiar emerald optics to suddenly emerge from the shadows, followed by evil laughter.

It was an image he associated with the destruction of Omicron. That was why he usually did his best to fight his nemesis by daylight – when he looked like a normal robot and not something supernatural.

At the beginning of the hunt, so long ago, the hunter had waked up every night screaming. His dreams had transformed Protoform X into a strangely fascinating demonic creature not from this world.

He had been scared just like everyone else. But he had fought it. Now most of that fear was gone. But sometimes, with the proper atmosphere, the demonic image still returned.

His hand unconsciously touched his left subspace, right beneath his disk launcher, where he kept the spark. At least he could never be irrationally worried that he had lost it. He could _tell_ it was there without a doubt.

He neared the bars and was met with the sight of… a huge crab sleeping.

He almost chuckled as his body suddenly relaxed.

_Well, that was… anticlimactic._

_Too paranoid, Depth Charge, way too paranoid. _

_You have him. He's not a threat right now. You have him in your very hand… Literally._

He reached inside and took out the spark just as a precaution. He was still deciding whether to wake his enemy or not.

The crab's optics powered up suddenly and the ray took a step back caught off guard.

He hadn't made a sound or squeezed the box; he hadn't really done anything that might have alerted the killer…

_No__, you're just holding his very essence in your palm._

Oh. Right.

_That must be a weird feeling__... If you feel uncomfortable just having another's spark in your subspace, how would it feel if someone was actually touching yours?_

Actually, he knew exactly how that felt. Except he'd never had his spark out of his body and the experience in question had been in a totally different context. Very, very different context. And he didn't want to bring that into this situation at all.

"Oh. So it's you." Rampage observed and his optics dimmed slightly in contrast to the bright alertness they had expressed a nano ago.

Was that a hint of relief Depth Charge had detected in his voice?

He discarded the idea as preposterous. He should be the last person the killer would be relieved to see holding his spark.

"What do you want?" Rampage asked in an almost bored voiced and he proceeded to transform. Extremely slowly. The reason behind that was probably that he didn't want to make any sudden movements in the presence of a guy who could send him rolling on the floor in agony with one little squeeze. But Depth Charge couldn't help but stare as joints slowly rotated and clicked into place one by one with a faint metallic whine.

Robots didn't usually take their time while transforming because they mostly did it in battle or when they needed to use their other mode for something.

On top of that the large transformer didn't even bother to stand up. He actually managed to transform while lying down, rolled over lazily and put his hands underneath his head, looking up at Depth Charge.

A tiny piece of the ray's mind laughed at that. The crab wasn't stupid. This was by far the most unthreatening pose in the world. It could be called _other_ things but definitely not _threatening_. As a result it didn't invite any hostile action. So maybe the Predacon had had enough pain the last few days and wasn't looking for more.

"I don't suppose you're suddenly here to attempt to kill me in the middle of the night unaided, now that you can get help from your Maximal friends for that." The robot in the cage commented after his initial question remained unanswered. "Unless you intend to stare me to death. Am I supposed to blush or something?"

Depth Charge blinked, pulled out of his thoughts. Then frowned, looking away. He hadn't meant to look distracted.

"I have questions."

"Marvelous."

The red robot's mouth twitched just barely but his voice didn't give anything away.

"What the slag was that supposed to mean?" Depth Charge demanded suspiciously.

"The word 'marvelous'? I'm not a dictionary to give you a definition but I'm pretty sure you know what it means. And this is going to be a very long and pointless conversation if you look for hidden meanings in everything I say, Fish Face. Make up your mind about what you're here for, will you?"

The teal robot scowled again and Rampage had to keep from laughing out loud. His old playmate had mastered at least twenty different kinds of scowls and frowns.

It suddenly struck him that this was probably the first time they were consciously observing each other. Sure, they had fought so many times that they knew each other's habits, moves and even body structures fairly well. But they had never done anything as simple as… just watching.

Rampage had been less comfortable than he was showing to begin with. Somehow that last thought didn't help matters at all. But he didn't move. After all, what could Depth Charge possibly see that he hadn't tried to show him already?

Depth Charge on his part was fighting the strange urge to at least sit down. Talking to a person lying on the floor from a standing position just didn't seem natural. He had to remind himself how weird it would look if they both just slouched in the hangar on two sides of the bars like some perverse imitation of a picnic.

He reset his voice box.

"I want to know a few things. The first one is, why did you do… what you did right after I got your spark. Did you mean to attack me?"

"No." the crab answered honestly.

"Then why?"

"I'm… not sure. What does it matter?"

"Answer the question!"

It was Rampage's turn to frown and his knitted fingers dug into the backs of his hands in an effort not to jump upright at the raised tone of voice. His hot-headedness and quick temper had frequently gotten him in trouble with Megatron. But that was partly because he had never been interested in speaking to Megatron. He didn't want this conversation cut abruptly so he did his best to keep his cool.

"Believe it or not, I am answering as best I can, Fins. I am really not entirely sure why I tackled you."

"Did you mean… Did you mean for our sparks to merge?"

"Yes." He admitted, noting that the ray looked slightly more uncomfortable than he thought was necessary. Sure, he had gotten some access to private information and that wasn't a small deal but there hadn't been anything really surprising or unusual in what he had seen and felt... Or had there? What was he missing?

"Did you know what would happen?" Depth Charge continued with the questions, determined to get to the bottom of this even if Rampage himself had not seen that bottom.

"Sort of. Well… not really. Subconsciously maybe."

The ray growled in frustration at the vague answer.

"It wasn't like you were sleepwalking!"

"I was not thinking! It just passed trough my mind that it might be my last chance to try to get a message across! I really thought you would manage to scrap me this time with a little help, so here's a question for you, old friend: why am I still alive?"

Depth Charge gaped, then threw his hands in the air in frustration. And almost balled them into fists before he remembered he was still holding the spark. He adjusted his grip so he could hold it securely without squeezing. Rampage had sat up, a hand on his chest. He was leaning on his other hand and glaring at him.

"You are only alive because I want answers." The Guardian said lowly, glaring back.

Rampage's look now changed to a level one.

"Then you are not asking the right questions."

Taken aback, Depth Charge regarded him for a while. Then the anger on his face gradually dissipated and his features eased into a contemplating expression. He slowly lowered himself to the ground.

Whoever was watching the security cameras would probably wonder what the slag he was doing but since when had he cared if someone thought his actions were weird?

He glanced at the little cage in his hand.

"How much do you feel?" he asked quietly.

Rampage also looked at the blue orb glowing trough the Maximal's fingers.

"Everything." He answered after a short pause. "Each finger, every other spark around… even the walls of your subspace. Sparks are extremely sensitive in general. Mine more than others."

A shudder ran down the Guardian's spine at those words. That much? Great, now he felt three times more uncomfortable. He carefully pocketed the thing but the already familiar warmth that suddenly filled his subspace prevented him from forgetting about it. Still, he managed to stay calm as he asked the next question.

"You said you thought it would be your last chance to deliver a message. What message?"

_Normally_, Rampage would have deflected the question, slightly ashamed to confess that he had been looking for understanding.

_Normally_, Depth Charge would either laugh or, even more likely, take it as a mockery and get angry.

But there was something in the Maximal's voice right now that was strangely reassuring. Maybe it was a long-forgotten echo of his Guardian training.

Depth Charge felt it himself or at least a part of his mind gasped in surprise as he slipped into an old role he hadn't played for stellar cycles.

With all the shouting, arguing with superiors and snarling he had been doing since Omicron, he hadn't used that particular tone of voice at all. It was amazing how easily it had come to him now, at this unlikely moment.

Maybe it was just the general strangeness of the situation. He wasn't sure how to deal with it so his mind reverted back to the old engraved teachings of the Academy.

_Calm and polite and respectful and understanding. A pillar of society. Brave and strong and dependable. There to listen. There to find the problem and fix it._

That voice had been used to get hysterical femmes and frightened sparklings and angry 'bots to calm down and tell the patient Guardian waiting with a data pad what the problem was. And, wonder of wonders, it worked on Rampage as well.

The crab sighed and leaned back, resuming his original position and staring absently at the small blinking blue light of the alarm system above.

"Well, Fins, I don't suppose you can imagine being nothing more than a spark but try for a moment. You're this bright blue orb, no body, no voice. You can think and feel but no one can tell that you're doing it because all they see is this ball of light. Nobody knows who you are. Now imagine that somehow you happen to fall in the hands of a, say, a proto human child. It doesn't know what this bright blue orb is, it just wants to play with it, kick it around and maybe take it apart to see what's inside. You try to tell it to stop but it doesn't seem to hear at all. Well, that's what my life is like, only with a few important differences. First of all, nothing changed when I was given a body. I could move and speak but everyone just pretended I couldn't and did everything to prevent me from doing it. No Cybertronian I've met in my life has ever heard or understood what I was trying to tell them. Second, replace the human child with a team of scientists. They KNEW what they were playing with, it just never stopped them."

"You enjoy killing people."

"Yes. You know why? Because they get see what I see. It replaces talking for me. No one seems to want to do that so… And because it's the only way I can have some kind of control. You have no idea what it's like to never feel in control, never be the master of your own destiny. Do you have any idea…?" vivid emerald optics locked with ruby ones in helpless frustration. "Depth Charge, I have never been free in my life. To be free means not to have to run or hide or fight. At first I just wanted the experiments to stop and to get out of there. But after I did that, the Guardians and the whole planet were after me. And then the rest of the Universe. What was I supposed to do?"

Depth Charge's optics widened and his voice was barely above a whisper.

"That night… If I had… If I hadn't…"

At least ten different taunts crossed Rampage's mind but none of them left his mouth. It just didn't seem fitting right now. He looked at his playmate's almost horrified face and shrugged.

"You didn't make a mistake, Fins. You acted by the book. Your reaction was normal under the circumstances… but then again so was mine."

Pieces of Depth Charge's world that he had kept in place seemingly by magic for the last few solar cycles now crumbled around him like broken glass. So what? It had all been just one crappy gathering of circumstances? And the only explanation was 'slag happens'? He shut his optics.

"Why am I alive?" he whispered.

"Because I was hoping I would find a way to make you understand."

"Why me?"

"Because you hesitated before drawing that gun."

Their optics met again and the ray knew everything was true. Even if he wanted to deny it, the glimpse he had gotten of the other 'bot's spark told him otherwise. They held each other's gaze for what seemed like a long time. Then Depth Charge nodded slowly and lifted himself off the ground.

"Thank you for… telling me the truth."

Rampage nodded thoughtfully in return as the Guardian's footsteps faded away.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Drifting on the wind_

_A lonely voice,_

_A cry that sounds like a song_

_To the one who would listen by choice._

_Dark as the deepest night,_

_Warm as the hope of day,_

_Can you hear it speak to your heart?_

_Can you hear it say…_

_I've always wanted you to understand me_

_I've always needed someone to defend me_

_I've always dreamed you'd be the one to mend me_

_Don't forget me and leave me behind._

_I've never heard you curse the world and mean it_

_I've never been in love as you have been it_

_I've never seen a life as you have seen it_

_Help me see, I have always been blind._

_Just a single touch_

_And the world will fade_

_Shatter like a glass_

_And wait to be remade_

_Can you live like this_

_With what you haven't done_

_Or will you admit_

_Something's just begun_

'_Cause you can hear it!_

_I've always wanted you to understand me_

_I've always needed someone to defend me_

_I've always dreamed you'd be the one to mend me_

_Don't forget me and leave me behind._

_I've never heard you curse the world and mean it_

_I've never been in love as you have been it_

_I've never seen a life as you have seen it_

_Help me see, I have always been blind._

_Learn to know me,_

_Learn to teach me_

_Try to hold me_

_Try to reach me_

_If I push your hands away_

_Don't give up on me, just stay_

_Another day._

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**A/N:** I'm not sure if this song inspired the fic or the fic inspired the song… And this chapter was NOT that easy to write. So… care to share your thoughts on it?


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beast Wars. Gee, that's boring to say over and over.

**A/N:** Yepee, another chapter. And the song from the last one is now on youtube after my internet connection finally decided to cooperate. I'm also working on a video for this fic but that will probably take a little time.

I had a tiring few days but I'm back and ready to write so enjoy.

Chapter seven

Tarantulas cackled in delight as distant booming reached his underground lair. One of his arachnids confirmed that it was indeed the rat, politely knocking as the last time.

The spider had been hoping he would come back and there he was. Alone, apparently. So he hadn't called his Maximal buddies to back him up and attempt to destroy the lab.

Even if he had, Tarantulas was prepared for them. There were traps everywhere and on top of that this wasn't even his main lab, just a convenient little establishment he had set up near the Maximal border. It would have been completely stupid to put all of his eggs in one basket, wouldn't it? So as the Beast Wars had progressed he had managed to equip not only one main really, really well-concealed lab but a few other little lairs as well.

He had been hanging around this one since his encounter with the short Maximal the day before. His patience had obviously been worth it.

He abandoned his hacking trough Megatron's personal files and crept up the tunnel to meet his guest.

Rattrap had a gun ready but he didn't look very enthusiastic about firing right now.

"So, you decided you want your big scaly friend back, didn't you, hehe?"

"Tell me more." Rattrap demanded, ignoring the question. "I want to know how this would work. And it better be plausible because if there's a single thing I don't understand in your explanation, I'll just decide you're screwing my bolts and blast you to pieces!"

With an amused chuckle at the rat's attempt at being threatening. It was plain as daylight he wanted to believe Tarantulas was not lying just as much as tarantulas himself wanted to convince him. The spider settled comfortably on top of the boulder and started explaining.

A thunder cracked somewhere in the distance. A storm was brewing and it was probably over the Predacon base already.

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Megatron's optics were fixed on the sky. More clouds were gathering and the first raindrops were beginning to fall. He and his troops were outside. Inferno, Quickstrike and Waspinator were currently working a few feet away in an energon deposit that was as close to Maximal territory as they had been able to find.

"Hurry up, you imbeciles, we'll miss our chance!"

The arrogance in the tyrant's voice had been replaced by a dangerous edge and a steely determination. This better work. It well may be their last chance.

"We are ready, Royalty!" Inferno informed him, bringing over a closed crate full of raw energon crystals and starting to attach it to his commander's back. The rest of the Predacons were doing the same with similar crates.

The energon would interfere with their signatures, and with all the disturbance the storm was causing, they could infiltrate Maximal territory unnoticed. But they would have to stay in beast mode at least until they found their target.

And to think that he had Tarantulas to thank for this! Even in his current somber state of mind Megatron allowed himself a smile. The amusing part was that the spider wasn't even aware that he was helping. Megatron had just been lucky enough to finally discover exactly how his treacherous servant was drawing information from the base's main computer. He had then used the same connection to hack into Tarantulas' own computers. Apparently, one of his little establishments was close to Maximal territory and so he could now spy on his enemies on their own land.

The scanners had told him that a certain young Maximal was out on his own. And a plan had formed in the cunning Predacon's head. It was a very risky plan but if it worked it might turn the scales to their favor once more. And the Predacons needed that to happen fast, before the Maximals took their heads out of their skidplates and attacked.

As only he and Waspinator were able to fly in beast mode, they had to carry the other two. Waspinator was having some difficulty but Quickstrike was a fairly small 'bot so eventually all four Predacons rose into the air and, on Megatron's command, disappeared into the clouds in order not to be seen.

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Rampage sensed the storm even as he sat in his cell in the hangar. Apart from the fact that he could hear the distant howling of wind, the half of his spark that rested in Depth Charge's subspace also felt it quite strongly as it was out of the base. The Guardian had left the Ark a while ago.

Oh, how Rampage wanted to be out there! He loved storms. The wind, the rain, the thunder and lightening… The whole chaos of it made him feel at home.

Plus, storms suited him, they accentuated his optics, he thought with a chuckle.

They were the perfect setting for stalking and frightening someone. But he also enjoyed them when he was alone. He shut his optics and, aided by the rest of his spark, tried to imagine what was going on outside. After all, what other entertainment did he have here? It had just been one day and the Maximals were practically trying to kill him with boredom. He still had no idea what they intended to do with him and not knowing made him nervous. He could try to escape but it was little use with Depth Charge in possession of his spark. Maybe the Guardian would really kill him now that he had gotten his answers. Rampage considered this possibility. Should he just let his playmate kill him? He had after all planned for that to happen at some point. Yet another reason why Depth Charge was allowed to live time and time again. But…

No, he wasn't ready yet. Not yet. Something was missing. Something important that he needed to find before he could let go. Freedom, real freedom, the kind he had spoken to the ray about… But that he could never have. Then at least understanding! He was closer now than he had ever been. Someone was beginning to really see…

Suddenly, he shivered. Depth Charge had taken the spark out.

It was a strange thing. Sparks didn't feel temperature changes but they did register them for the benefit of the body they inhabited. Therefore a spark _without_ a body wouldn't feel cold. But if a spark that was connected to one was exposed to the elements, it would make that body shudder in order to remind it to close its slagging chest plates before said spark was damaged.

It was like standing in the middle of the storm completely naked, with all of your armor stripped. Rampage shifted in irritation and curled up futilely.

"Put it back, you Fishbrain!" he muttered to the empty room.

Of course, Depth Charge couldn't hear him and the crab had to settle for cursing the ray with all the rude vocabulary he could muster and shivering.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Depth Charge watched from his perch on a cliff as the waves below crushed with a vengeance. He had Rampage's spark in his hand and was resisting the urge to just throw it in the angry blue depths.

He didn't want this responsibility! Not anymore. Not like this.

It had been so simple before! Still painful, but simple. Your friends die so you find the one responsible and give him what he deserves. But who was really responsible?

He was tempted to say 'Rampage' and simplify things once more but it wasn't that easy. In fact, the task of killing an immortal seemed laughably easy compared to this.

Why did he suddenly feel like he was supposed to do something more? To set things right? He had always claimed he was looking for justice. But what could restore justice in a situation like this?

He understood Rampage's logic now. He didn't want to, but he understood. And the horrifying truth was that that logic wasn't very different from his own.

When Rampage had killed so many 'bots, Depth Charge had thought that he should be punished with the same and only that would have brought justice to his fallen comrades. But by this logic the ones who had tortured Protoform X from the moment of his creation hadn't really gotten what they deserved. And never would because they were simply dead. They had even died rather quickly as the raging experiment had been too anxious to get out to take his time. They should have been punished with immortality, torture and seclusion.

For the first time in his life the treacherous thought crossed Depth Charge's mind that this was wrong. That he had been wrong. That this wasn't the way to go about it.

He stomped on the thought with all his might.

X deserved to die, slag it!

Then why was Depth Charge unable to do it?

Because Rampage had hit a sore spot when he had suggested there was nothing else he could have done but start murdering people left and right. That he had acted _normally_ under the circumstances. At first the ray had wanted to dismiss the comment as ridiculous. But why was it ridiculous? Why was it so obviously wrong? So, what _should_ he have done?

If everything was so clear, Depth Charge should have been able to think of answers to these questions on the spot. Instead, he was sitting here in the pouring rain, unsure of his own feelings, afraid that if he allowed himself to feel sorry for the crab, the emotion would become overwhelming.

Because it just might be true that Rampage had really never had a chance. And there was something so desperately sad about that that the Guardian's spark which was still able to feel compassion battled with his mind which insisted mostly by habit that the killer did not deserve any such thing. Images of the Omicron massacre flashed before his eyes but were immediately countered by the recently acquired memories of Protoform X. In the end Depth Charge was ready to scream. How was he supposed to solve this puzzle in which everyone was a victim?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, not so fast!" Quickstrike yelped in fright, clinging to Waspinator's back as the inertia almost managed to detach him from the bug.

"Wazzzpinator findz it easier to fly fast, this way Two-head not zzo heavy."

"But I'm gonna fall off!"

"Wazzpinator won't let Two-head fall off, cut Wazzpinator some slack! Wazzpinator don't harm other Pedaconz, Wazzpinator usually salvage."

Unable to disagree with this statement, Quickstrike clung on for dear life as they sped trough the watery grey mist the clouds consisted of. Megatron was barely visible in front of them with Inferno on his back.

The tyrant cursed as he dived beneath the clouds to check on their prey. Cheetor was flying home. Far below them and way ahead.

"The cat is too fast to follow." Megatron muttered to himself angrily. No way! He wasn't going back empty-handed this time!

Just then he spotted something else in the forest below. A grin spread slowly on his face.

"Oh, yess."

His plan might still work with a few adjustments. It could prove harder than taking care of Cheetor but if he played his cards right the Predacons would come out on top.

He flew back up to inform his troops of the change of plans.

Inferno answered with 'Yes, Royalty' as always. The other two secretly groaned.

Quickstrike seldom stopped to think when a battle was ahead but this time he couldn't seem to get rid of the bright neon letters that flashed before his eyes. The letters read: THIS IS INSANE!!!

"We're all gonna die…" Wazzpinator whined quietly beneath him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cheetor entered the Ark just a little after the first heavy drops of rain had started falling. He stood in the middle of the control room and shook himself thoroughly, spraying Optimus who laughed and put an arm up to protect himself from the droplets.

"Had fun, Cheetor?"

"Oh, you bet, Big Bot!" the cat replied happily, jumping on one of the big Autobot chairs and curling up with a contented sigh. "It felt like good old times when we didn't have to think about protecting the future all the time."

"Yes, we all needed a little break from that." Optimus agreed. "With Rampage no longer a threat, I hope Megatron will think again before trying to attack us. Speaking of which, I should go get Rampage his energon."

Optimus made a move to stand up but Cheetor jumped from the chair and stopped him with a paw.

"I can do that! You go back to your reading. You've been keeping an eye on the monitors and I have just been playing around all day."

Optimus' first instinct was to refuse but he was finally starting to learn that questioning Cheetor's competence was a really bad idea. It always caused the kid to try to prove himself which, in turn, led to him becoming more reckless. And, really, he could trust his young comrade with feeding a prisoner, couldn't he? He settled back down and saw Cheetor grin, happy that his commander hadn't objected.

"Just be really careful with him." Optimus said seriously, hoping his words were registering with the hot-headed youth. "Contained or not, he's still very dangerous."

"I'll be careful, Big Bot, you don't have to worry all the time." The cat assured him, rolling his optics and skipped in the direction of their storage room to get the energon.

Optimus glanced after him fondly. Despite his shortcomings (and who doesn't have those?) Cheetor was growing up to be a fine Maximal. He was kind-sparked, brave and devoted to his friends. And smarter than his raging puberty allowed him to show. He'd probably make it out of this alive after all.

Having those thoughts calmed his worries about Cheetor but he was suddenly feeling a bit worried about other 'bots. The storm had been causing disturbances all day and while he hadn't seen any Predacon signatures on the scanners he had to wonder what was taking Silverbolt and Blackarachnia so long. They wouldn't want to be out in the storm would they? Maybe they had found a shelter and decided to wait it out?

He searched the screen. They couldn't be seen anywhere but that wasn't surprising right now. The bad weather had been causing signatures to flicker on and off.

He tried to radio Silverbolt but only got static.

Well, that could also be due to the storm.

But without being sure why, Optimus was rapidly becoming more anxious.

And then something on the screen caught his optics. Two Predacon signatures flashed on the screen for a moment, one after the other, close to where he had last seen the Maximal couple. That was all he needed to fall in a state of controlled panic.

He had underestimated Megatron again. He should have never let his comrades out of his sight!

But they had all been so sure the Predacons would stay put!

He radioed Rhinox and he was already heading out of the base when the Rhino answered.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It shouldn't have happened like this.

Silverbolt was sure the Universe simply could not be this cruel.

It had been their time off, for Primus' sake and they weren't even too far away from the Ark! The Predacons knew they were currently outnumbered and they had just been beaten a day ago. They should have been hiding in a hole licking their wounds! They shouldn't be so stupid as to attack to Maximals on their own territory.

It wasn't stupid though, was it? It was desperate and risky but it wasn't stupid. It had been a brilliantly executed plan, very precisely calculated and it had worked.

He and Blackarachnia had been off duty and had gone out for a walk in the forest to get some time on their own. It was long overdue. With the Maximals now having such a clear strategic advantage over their enemies, the mood in the base had been quite cheerful and most of their comrades felt relaxed enough to allow for a little fun. Optimus was reading a book, something he hadn't done since the beginning of the Beast Wars. Rhinox was examining some organic plants. Cheetor was also out, running with the wild cats like in the old days. Depth Charge was probably somewhere near the ocean. The fuzor sympathized with the manta. It must be hard for him, suddenly having to adjust to not being a hunter anymore. But he should be fine once he learned to relax.

Oddly enough, Rattrap had seemed quite gloomy when he had come back from his scouting about noon and he had locked himself in his room. But since there didn't seem to be any obvious reason for it, Silverbolt had just dismissed it as one of his teammate's odd qualities. He didn't understand the rat very well, he admitted.

So he and Blackarachnia had felt free to finally have an afternoon on their own. Optimus was glad to let them go with just a few warnings to watch out for Preds and mind the bad weather.

A storm had been brewing all day but it wasn't upon them yet and they thought they would be fine as long as they didn't go too far.

It had turned into a disaster.

All four Predacons (Tarantulas was missing again) had jumped them on a pretty little clearing while he was kissing his beloved and she was complaining about him being mushy again. The Predacons had been in their beast modes, carrying some kind of crates on their backs, which they now dropped and transformed. The attack had been so unexpected, the four enemies looking so out of place and surreal in this setting that the two Maximals had just been unable to react properly.

A quick and very neat shot from Megatron had knocked the fuzor off his feet. A nano-klik later Silverbolt had realized the shot had been specifically aimed at his radio and he found himself unable to contact the base. Blackaracnia had meanwhile managed to shoot the Predacon leader and drive him to take cover but then she was knocked offline but two simultaneous shots from Quickstrike behind her and Waspinator to the side. Watching in horror as his mate fell to the ground, Silverbolt had been too distracted to notice Inferno and a moment later the ant's flamethrower blasted him away. Before he was completely toasted, he heard Megatron shout:

"Leave him! Take Quickstrike and retreat before the rest of them get here, they might have figured out something's wrong!"

Trough the red mist of pain and the smoke from his own feathers that was clouding his optics, Silverbolt saw the T-Rex transform to his flight mode and pick up the she-spider's body while Inferno gathered Quickstrike and all of them took off to the air, leaving the crates behind.

The winged wolf howled after them desperately. He was alone, in pain, unable to call for help and overwhelmed with guilt. He had not been able to protect his beloved! They had taken her! And, enraged as Megatron was at his last defeat, Primus only knew what they would do to her.

That was the last thing that ran trough his processor before pain finally wiped out any conscious thought. He instinctively transformed to his beast mode and curled up, licking the burns on his skin and whimpering, waiting for someone to discover him.

A drop of rain fell on him and hissed.

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**A/N:** Revieeeeeeeeeeeeeewssssssssssssssss! Yesss ;P. And if you have any questions I could answer, ask away :)).


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** Войната на Зверовете е собственост на Хасбро!

LOL that was in Bulgarian XD But it said "Beast Wars belongs to Hasbro!"

**A/N:** *Looks at number of chapters* Wow 0_0. I wrote all that kind of fast.

Anyway, some of you wanted to see how Rampage will interact with the other Maximals and there you have it. This chapter was not supposed to end there but I realized the content was more of the size of two chapters. Don't worry, next one's being edited right now, it should also be up some time tomorrow. The more you review, the faster it will get done ;P

**Chapter eight**

_Dedicated to Donna Noble who prompted me to get Rampage and Cheetor's little talk done as fast as I did :)_

"Optimus… You should have waited until we alerted the others or at least taken Cheetor." Rhinox shook his head at the communicator. "I didn't expect something so reckless from you. What if the Predacons attack you? You may be big but you can't fight all of them."

"They were moving back towards their base from what I could see on the radar." Optimus' voice came trough the link. "The important thing is to get to Silverbolt and Blackarachnia as soon as possible. They might be injured. We should not have underestimated Megatron. With the storm interfering with communication, we should have all stayed home!"

The guilt was clear in the ape's voice.

"No one could have predicted Megatron would make a move so soon after his defeat." Rhinox attempted to console his young leader. "Besides, we're not even sure they came across each other. I'll send Cheetor to help you and you'll find them in no time."

"No! Don't send him after me alone in this storm, it will just make me worry and won't help much anyway. I can carry both Silverbolt and Blackarachnia if there's any need. In fact, don't even tell Cheetor. You know he'll run off on his own. Try to contact Depth Charge. Only send them if they are both together."

"Well, whatever you say, but at least be careful."

"I will. Optimus out."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rampage had just finally stopped freezing when he sensed a spark coming closer. He hadn't put much effort in remembering the distinct feel of anyone's spark but Depth Charge's, but he had been around the Maximals enough to tell that this was the cat. Interesting… What would he be doing here?

His question was answered a moment later when Cheetor entered the hangar carrying a tray with a few refined energon cubes on it and looking quite… hm… Well, Rampage supposed he was trying to look cocky and authoritative. The result was mildly amusing.

"Your dinner, Crabcakes." The young 'bot announced sliding the tray in the cell, careful not to come too close and keeping an optic on the prisoner.

Not that dumb, then, Rampage noted mentally.

He didn't make any move to reach for the energon. There was something humiliation about immediately digging in your ration before the optics of your captors.

He had to admit it was a generous ration though. Maximal rules: threat the prisoner nicely. Yeah, right. He resisted the urge to roll his optics and snort. The Maximals he'd known before the Beast Wars had been awfully nice, first torturing him and then stuffing him in a pod to drop somewhere far and secluded, like a pile of toxic waste. Considering that that had been part of Primal's mission too, he found this parody of hospitality rather hypocritical.

Still, he couldn't deny that he would rather enjoy a good refilling… as soon as the cat got out of there.

Cheetor though had stopped a few paces from the bars stepping uncertainly from foot to foot, as if he felt he should say something more. Rampage watched him try to maintain his parody of a 'tough guy' stance until he finally gave it up and his expression changed from constipated to curious.

"Ehem so… Do you prefer energon or would you rather eat organic food? I'm fine with energon but I'll miss having a little meat from time to time when we get back to Cybertron. How 'bout you?"

Rampage blinked. What kind of a question was that?

"What if I said I'd rather eat your spark?" he asked in return, cocking his head to one side.

Cheetor made a face.

"That's disgusting. And if you're just gonna be creepy and predictable, I'm outta here. I'm just tryin' to make conversation but if you'd rather talk to the floor…"

"Well… I suppose not." Rampage conceded, mildly surprised at both the cat and himself. But he _was_ bored to death. Being a prisoner, however well-cared for, was not the most exciting occupation.

"However, I fail to see what's disgusting about consuming a spark. If you hunt as you just implied, I suppose you also eat the animal's heart or brain."

"But that's different!" Cheetor defended indignantly. "I wouldn't do it with my own species!"

"Living things are living things." Rampage shrugged. "I don't see the difference."

He hesitated for a moment, but then reached for the energon. This conversation might take a while and there was no point in staying hungry throughout. Besides, it was rather hard to be embarrassed in front of Cheetor.

"But if you eat the sparks…" Cheetor asked with a kind of morbid curiosity, "…can they still go to the Matrix?"

Rampage chuckled.

"I wouldn't know anything about the Matrix, kitty. But sparks are just energy. When you consume them, that energy transfers into you and then you use it and it goes away. I suppose at that point it may go to the Matrix somehow but I never really cared much. That's one place I'm never visiting."

"Do you think you're going to the Pit? I mean for what you, um, did?"

Cheetor's face formed a strange little wince as he asked that question as if he was trying to be bold and at the same time wondered if it was OK to ask something like that.

"That's assuming I can die." Rampage smirked.

"Can't you, really?" the catbot asked with keen interest.

"I suppose I could. Hasn't my old friend come up with any brilliant plans about that?"

"Er, no, Depth Charge's just been goin' around the base all serious like and now I think he's out somewhere."

"He just came in."

"Oh. You can feel that? Is it because he has your spark or do you really, you know, sense sparks in general?"

"Aren't you full of questions." The crab observed somewhere between annoyed and amused as he moved on to the second energon cube. "The latter. I'm particularly in tune with Fishface's spark and having half of mine with him helps even more. But even without that, I feel all sparks. I feel yours right now." The last sentence had been spoken with a bit of a creepy undertone. Rampage idly wondered how fast he could make the cat fear him when he was in a cell and essentially unable to physically harm him. It was a little game that might be fun.

_Oh, what I do to escape boredom._

Cheetor stared at his own chest plate in wonder for a few kliks before looking up with an excited expression.

"Ultra gear!"

_Huh?_

Rampage blinked in helpless puzzlement at this demonstration of absolute stupidity or insanity, he wasn't sure which.

You tell the kid you can see into his spark and he says 'ultra gear'?

Then again, maybe it was because there was nothing you could learn from Cheetor's spark that wasn't already obvious. He had an overwhelming desire to prove himself and be taken seriously and that was pretty much all. Plenty of childish anger, which was largely superficial and evaporated just as quickly as it was provoked. No darkness, not much pain, even less fear than was usually _necessary_ for survival... No real bad feelings for a single person in the universe. Rampage had the feeling that this kid would accept even Megatron with open arms if he was convinced that the tyrant was genuinely sorry for his actions.

Amazing. It was probably because he was so young. The world would shape him into something different soon enough… like it had him.

Rampage wondered absently if Cheetor realized they were almost the same age. He wasn't completely aware of his own, the experiments had seemed to go on forever, but he was quite sure he was only slightly older than the cat. How weird. There was absolutely nothing in common between them.

Cheetor was still thoughtfully examining his chest plate when he comm. link activated and Rhinox's worried voice came trough.

"Cheetor, report to the command center at once."

"What's the matter Big Green? The Preds causing trouble in this wild weather?" the young 'bot asked disbelievingly.

"Silverbolt and Blackaracnia are missing. Optimus went to search for them but I've just lost contact with him too. Now that Depth Charge is back, I need you both to go and see if you can help. Problem is, our scanners are useless in this storm so all I can give you is Optimus' last coordinates."

Cheetor's optics widened in shock and worry.

"Big Bot and Blackarachnia? And Silverbolt! Looks like this cat will be out on a rescue mission! I'm on my way! See ya!" he tossed at Rampage over his shoulder as he ran out of the hangar.

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"Man, dis is hopeless!" Rattrap whined just as Cheetor came into the control room at a run. "Wit' no proper communication we'll just all end up looking fer each other wid no result! It's probably just what Megatron wants. I wouldn' be surprised if dis is some kind of trap!"

"Optimus said Megatron and his troops were moving away from our territory when he spotted them on the scanner." Rhinox reminded him "We can't leave our friends out there when they may need help. Besides, you wouldn't be the one going out. Cheetor and Depth Charge will have a better chance scanning the terrain from above."

"I'll do my best." Depth Charge nodded.

Now that there was no chance of being distracted by Rampage, he could really try to be as useful as possible.

"But we will still need some serious luck. Even flying won't be very easy in this weather. And if there's no way to detect their signatures…"

Cheetor's optics brightened suddenly.

"Hey, wait! Rampage can do that!"

The rest of the room stared at him in silent bafflement. Cheetor looked taken aback.

"What? He could, couldn't he, Depth Charge?"

"Technically, he could." The manta said slowly. "But I don't think that's… I mean… Well, I don't believe he can tell us the exact location from such a distance anyway."

"Well, we could take him with us and he'll tell us where to go."

"Are you insane, kiddo?" Rattrap gaped. "Dis guy's dangerous!"

"I know but Depth Charge has the spark, right? He can keep him in check. And what if Optimus and the others are really in trouble? We could be wasting important time right now!"

"He just might be right." Rhinox said thoughtfully.

"Wait a nano, all of ya!" Rattrap raised a hand. "What makes ya think Crabcakes will even agree to this?"

"Because he hates Megatron and old Purpleface clearly has something to do with the situation?" Cheetor suggested.

There was a small silence as Rhinox and Depth Charge looked at each other while Rattrap was trying to come up with a counter-argument.

"Only one way to find out." Rhinox shrugged finally and led the way out of the room and towards the hangar.

"Awww, man, dis is crazy!" Rattrap whined, scurrying after him.

Depth Charge opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. He didn't want to have to reason with himself again. Everything was just so weird lately that he wasn't sure he knew what was right. He just hoped that if Rhinox hadn't objected to the idea, it was probably not that insane and therefore worth a shot… awkward as this might get.

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"You want _me_ to go with _you_ to help you rescue you _friends_?

Rampage stared at the Maximals lined up in front of his cell and wondered what strange universe he had fallen into.

Rattrap was looking at him with contempt and suspicion. Cheetor was practically bouncing on the spot. Rhinox looked calm but cautious. And Depth Charge's face was blank. And for once the empath couldn't read his spark either because his emotions changed so rapidly that he couldn't put a finger on any of them.

"Cheetor thought you might be willing to help stop Megatron's plans." Rhinox offered. "You know whatever he's doing probably has to do with getting your spark back. And _we_ know you'd rather that didn't happen."

Rampage considered this and couldn't find any flaw in the logic. Megatron really was after his spark with a conviction he could only compare to Depth Charge's. So he would be helping himself as much as the Maximals if the spider and the fuzor had really gone missing because of some scheme of his…

"What exactly is your plan?"

Rhinox glanced at the ray before answering.

"Well, Depth Charge will have to carry you. That will be a big challenge especially in this weather but we think he should be able to pull it off. You'll guide him and Cheetor to wherever you sense the others are." He paused. "But don't even think about trying to escape. Because your spark will stay here with me. And if you take too long and I don't know what's going on… I'm gonna make you come crawling back."

The last part was spoken in the same calm tone of voice but Rampage was secretly impressed. Rhinox could be downright sinister when he wanted to and the crab had no doubt he would act upon his threat.

"That is, if you even agree to help." The rhino added after another short pause.

Hmmm… He would get to go outside for a while, in this lovely storm, Rampage noted. It was better than staying here.

He nodded.

"Fine. Just don't think I'll be at your service whenever you need me. I'm just doing this because it happens to correspond with my own interest."

"Fair enough." Rhinox shrugged.

"Fine, great, can we go already?" Cheetor pleaded, barely staying in one place. "Optimus and the others might be in trouble!"

Depth Charge took out the spark and handed it to Rhinox. Rampage suppressed a frown. He didn't like his spark in the hands of the green mech but there was nothing he could do about it. A nano later the energy bars were deactivated and he stepped cautiously over the perimeter of the cell.

Cheetor practically ran out the door and Rhinox motioned for the crab to follow him. The rhino and the ray exited together, optics fixed on his back and Rattrap came last, staying as far away from the murderer as possible and muttering to himself that this was a bad idea.

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**A/N:** Hehehehe, once again a cliff-hanger! Review if you don't want to fall off the cliff! ;P


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** Beast Wars not mine.

**A/N:** Duh-duh-duh-duuuuun! Sorry guys, I know I said I'd post this fast and it got kind of delayed but today I finally managed to kick my own skidplate and get some studying doen so the delay was for a good cause. It also took a while because choosing what to put and not to put in this chapter was kind of hard. I know a certain storyline has been on a slow burn but don't worry, it ties up to everything else so it will pop up again and gather speed when I need it.

Oh, I forgot! A trailer for Dalgaroth;s fic has been posted on youtube, check it out:

http://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=RCfiTN0LrfM

Replace the (dot) with actual dots, obviously.

Right, now on to the chapter.

**Chapter nine**

Optimus was becoming really desperate. He kept reminding himself that there was a chance he might be overreacting. Silverbolt and Blackarachnia might just be hiding somewhere waiting for the storm to pass. The Predacons might have come to Maximal territory for some other reason than to attack and they might not have even met the couple. Might, might, might. Except he couldn't imagine what other reason Megatron would have to come here. If they had been coming to surrender, which was highly implausible to begin with, they wouldn't have turned and gone back to their own base.

He was having no luck in his search so far and on top of that, he had lost contact with Rhinox. The rhino must be really worried by now but going back to base was out of the question. He couldn't do it. He would just have to keep looking until he found them. And if he didn't, that would mean they were probably taken prisoners.

Optimus' spark sank as he suddenly realized that this was probably exactly what had happened. How could he have been so foolish and reckless? Megatron was an enemy not to be underestimated; the Maximal commander should have known he would try to take hostages to use as a bargaining chip.

If that was the case, they had screwed up big time. Megatron would want Rampage's spark back and Optimus would have to give it to him. There was no question of risking Silverbolt and Blackarachnia's lives.

With these dark thoughts he continued to fly and scan the ground, desperately hoping for a glimpse of his friends.

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Blackarachnia woke up to a faint smell of sulfur, half-forgotten but still familiar.

"Aww, great." She murmured, rubbing her head.

"Oh, my dear Widow! How nice of you to join us, yesss." She heard and her optics immediately located Megatron, sitting on his throne.

Evidently, he had just been hanging around waiting for her to wake up so he could say that one malicious line because now he got up and headed out, giving her a gloating look as he passed her cage.

"With your unwilling help the Predacons will once again have the upper hand in this war. And this time I will make sure to destroy all of you… you miserable insects!"

His voice dropped to a hateful hiss as he said those last words and Blackarachnia was tempted to recoil. Never had she heard her former boss sound so serious in his threats.

But she refused to be fazed and returned his look with a mocking smile.

"With what half of your crew consist of right now, I find that expression funny."

Uncharacteristically, he growled at her lowly and she fought to keep her smile from freezing as her fluids did.

"All three of you morons, guard her!" The Predacon leader barked to his small team who had been waiting on the other side of the room. "If anything, ANYTHING, goes wrong with this plan, I'll rip you slowly to pieces!"

All three of them flinched. Even Inferno.

Four 'bots sighed in relief when the T-Rex left the room.

"So, Sugar-bot, what have you been up to?" Quickstrike ventured flirtatiously.

Blackarachnia rolled her optics.

"Oh, joy. As if I wasn't getting enough of this from the kitten."

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Depth Charge was finding out that carrying a huge transmetal murderer was not really as hard as he had expected. This surprised him. But then again, the only other time Rampage had flown on his back, the crab had been trying to tear him apart, which had interfered considerably with the flight. Without that, it was a bit like the backpacks of equipment he had occasionally had to carry on exercise missions during his Guardian training.

Why did he keep going back to that time lately?

But yeah, the comparison wasn't that far-fetched since Rampage was playing the role of a big scanner right now. Except that in the Academy he was rarely worried the equipment he was carrying might try to kill him. Well, there had been one case with a homicidal folding shed which had always attempted to trap him inside every time he started setting it up…

He almost chuckled fondly at the memory before he forced his brain to get back to the situation at hand.

"All right, we've reached the forest. Where to now?"

"Go west." Rampage shouted above the wind. "The fuzor's there."

"What about Blackarachnia?" Cheetor asked as he came to their level from a quick circle at lower altitude.

"She must be quite far away. I can't sense her anywhere near." Rampage answered with a frown.

"That's not good news." Depth Charge murmured to himself

The crab was thinking the same. If Megatron had taken the widow, would the Maximals give up a big strategic advantage to ensure she remained unharmed? Of course they would. The Maximals were always so… keen on preserving lives.

That was the most important thing, wasn't it? Being alive. Screw everything else, he was alive, what more did he want, right? Slag them. If this was indeed a hostage situation, that meant he would be handed back to Megatron. And he did not even want to think of that possibility. The tyrant would sit on his spark and not get up for days…

Rampage considered his options as he absently told the ray fly lower. He could attack his companions and escape… And after a little while Rhinox would do pretty much the same as Megatron. And he was just as heavy.

He was helpless. Again. He was helpless and at the mercy of Maximals who didn't give a slag about how much pain they might cause him as long as they got what they wanted.

"There!" Cheetor shouted.

They were now quite low, just above the trees. And at the edge of a clearing below, a drenched grey mess of fur and feathers was barely visible trough the rain clouding their optics.

Rampage left the excitement to the cat as he continued his train of thought while Depth Charge prepared to land. There was of course the slight chance that the spider might be dead. He couldn't be sure from such a distance if she was among the sparks he felt. Her spark could have been extinguished…

But not with his luck.

That last thought was quickly confirmed when the first weak whimper that came out of Silverbolt's mouth was: "They took her!"

"We'll get her back!" Cheetor assured the fuzor with grim determination.

Rampage hung back as the two Maximals fussed over their friend, trying to asses how damaged he was.

Internal repairs had already kicked in and he was more shocked than anything. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been such an unexpected attack. But as it was, they couldn't get him to stop repeating over and over that it was his fault Blackarachnia was gone and that he should have protected his lady. His two comrades finally gave up on trying to calm him in favor of figuring out what to do. Silverbolt was slightly heavy for Cheetor to carry and Depth Charge still had Rampage to think about.

"Optimus is nearby, try to contact him." Rampage said automatically without any permission from his brain. Said brain was preoccupied with frantically trying to come up with any option that would not land him in a lot of pain. The rest of him though still seemed to be operating on the 'Help the Maximals' frequency.

"Thanks Rampage!" Cheetor tossed over his shoulder and tried his radio again. "Cheetor to Optimus, do you copy Big Bot?"

"Cheetor!" Optimus' voice came from the other side, with a little interference but clear enough. "Where are you?"

As Cheetor proceeded to inform his leader of the situation and give him their coordinates, Rampage walked away into the forest. He wasn't trying to escape. He wasn't even going fast. He just wanted to get away from the others at least while he tried to think.

Back on the clearing Optimus landed and immediately ran over to Silverbolt who was now trying to stand, supported by Depth Charge.

"How did you find him?"

"It was actually Rampage who located him! You know, Big Bot, with his empathic senses and all that…" Cheetor answered.

Optimus' optic ridges shot up.

"Did I hear this right? Rampage? He could sense the exact coordinates from as far away as the base?"

"No, we actually had to take him. He's right…" Depth Charge started to say but stopped as he scanned the crab-free clearing. "Now where did that creep go?"

He quickly handed Silverbolt to Primal and stalked into the forest.

He wasn't particularly alarmed, just surprised at his enemy's stupidity. What was he hoping to achieve? His spark was still with Rhinox.

He spotted him not far away, leaning on a tree trunk and staring at the little rivers running on the forest floor. The wind had decreased somewhat but it was still raining heavily.

"Hey!" Depth Charge called, causing the crab to whirl around in his direction. "Where do you think you're going?"

Rampage scowled.

"Does it look like I'm going anywhere, Fish Face? I would if I could."

The ray rolled his optics.

"Well, poor you, you're breaking my spark. Come on, we're about to get going."

Rampage stared stubbornly at the ground. It was childish and wouldn't achieve anything but right now he just wanted to defy the Guardian's dismissive tone.

Depth Charge regarded him carefully, torn between wondering what was going on and just getting angry.

"All right, what's all the sulking about?" he asked finally.

Rampage's optics flashed in disbelief as the killer turned to look at him.

"What's the sulking about?! Do you have a toaster for a processor? I don't care how dumb you are, you MUST have figured out what Megatron's gonna use the spider for! He wants me back and he's gonna get me back in exchange for the fuzor's precious Widow! And you ask what I'm sulking about?"

"Oh..."

Depth Charge felt a little stunned. He _had_ registered the facts somewhere in the back of his mind, but he hadn't really realized what they meant.

"You really don't want to go back to the Predacons…"

"Fins, seeing how I beat Megatron to a pulp last time we met, there are very few things I want less than him getting anywhere near my spark."

"Well, it's not like he's gonna ki –"

Depth Charge caught himself a little too late, after the sentence had started leaving his mouth.

Honestly, it had been a dumb thing to say. He was ready to admit that.

Rampaged was staring him directly in the optics, looking absolutely livid now. Thunder cracked above them and lightening flashed in the falling dusk. And there stood the image from Depth Charge's nightmares. In the pouring rain, against the quickly darkening sky, green optics brilliant with rage.

"You still don't get it, do you?" the killer gritted out. "Let me tell you, old friend, you don't get used to pain. It doesn't get easier to deal with as time goes by, it gets more difficult! Like with every other thing, when you get fed up with it, it becomes harder and harder to cram more in. And everyone has a limit… but I don't so it just keeps getting worse! And you have no idea… You… Have no… After what I showed you…"

The crab stuttered, rendered speechless by helpless rage and the pure inability to express what he was feeling.

And in the Guardian's optics the image of the demon was suddenly washed away. He blinked in surprise and what stood before him now was more similar to a wild animal cornered by a gang of hunters.

And he decided he had to put the metaphorical gun away. His own emotions leveled out as he took a deep breath and offered the other transformer a steady look.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen." He said as calmly as he could manage, considering how his spark skipped a beat and his common sense screamed in alarm at what he was promising.

"What?" Rampage asked, certain that he had misheard.

"I'll make sure Megatron doesn't get your spark back." Depth Charge repeated. "You have my word. We'll have to come up with another plan to rescue Blackarachnia. Now let's get back to the others. It's getting dark and I'm sure Rhinox is worried sick."

With that he turned and strode back towards the clearing. Rampage stared at his back for a few nanos before following uncertainly, his rage suddenly draining away replaced by disbelief and a very cautious little spark of hope.

"Primal will have your head." He observed quietly when he had caught up.

Unexpectedly, the ray burst out laughing.

"Oh, that worries me so much!"

Rampage threw him a sideways glance and a thin smile crept to his mouth as well.

"I guess not…"

And, unexpectedly, he did feel reassured. Depth Charge was not the type to give his word but he was even less the type to break it if he did.

"I could kiss you right now, you know." The crab muttered, shaking his head.

"Don't." Depth Charge replied flatly but still with a trace of humor in his voice.

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"They should've been back by now, buddy." Rattrap said nervously as he watched Rhinox pace the length of the control room. "I told ya it was a bad idea!"

"Rampage isn't stupid; he knows he can't get away with attacking someone."

"Oh, yeah? He got away with murdering a whole colony."

"He didn't precisely get away, he was caught and…"

"And dumped on our ship to cause more trouble! And then he got away again and he almost ate us! And we've let him run free among our friends!"

Rhinox stopped in the middle of the room with the intention to say something to counter Rattrap but his own spark was pulsing with worry. He was the one who had agreed to this, he had taken the initiative and the responsibility and it would be his fault if something went wrong.

The Ark suddenly felt frighteningly empty with just him and Rattrap there. The rest had disappeared one by one and none of them had come back. It was already dark outside. They had been gone for megacycles. It was like some kind of horror story.

What if this was some scheme of Megatron's? What if he and Rampage were actually working together? What if the killer was murdering their friends right now?

He checked the time again. It had been a long time but was it too long? What if he was wrong and they were just taking care of someone injured?

That shouldn't take that long either. If someone was injured, they would be in a hurry to get them to a CR…

The spark was sitting on the control room table. He looked at it uncertainly.

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Optimus gave the crab and ray a questioning look as they reappeared but decided to save it for later. What mattered now was getting their injured friend a proper treatment.

"All right, Depth Charge, you take Silverbolt, he's lighter. I'll take care of Rampage. Cheetor, fly ahead and alert Rhinox that we're coming back."

"I'll be there before you can say energon! And we'll have a CR ready!"

The cheetah zoomed away at top speed.

Depth Charge hesitated for a nano but transformed to his flight mode and took Silverbolt from Optimus.

"Just hold on, I can't keep worrying you'll fall off." He warned the fuzor.

A miserable nod the ray could not even see was the only response.

Rampage wasn't exactly happy with the arrangement. Riding with the Maximal commander seemed strange and alien. But once again, he couldn't argue with the logic. Optimus _was_ bigger and it would be easier for him to carry him. But the crab was definitely going on his back. He wasn't gonna be carried around like a damsel in distress.

The rain and wind slapped them in the faces again as they gained altitude but the ride seemed a little easier on the way back. The storm was subsiding little by little. They flew in silence for some time, neither feeling particularly chatty in this situation or very keen to shout to be heard.

About half way towards the base, Rampage suddenly screamed and nearly fell off, startling Optimus, who maneuvered in midair and caught his passenger in his hands to keep him from plummeting to the ground.

"What's going on?" he shouted, wrestling with the writhing crab.

"Rhinox!" Depth Charge shouted back. "We've been gone a while, he probably freaked out and Cheetor hasn't reached him yet!"

Optimus tried to contact the base, attempting to speak over Rampage's screams but there was no answer.

"Can't we knock him out?" Silverbolt shouted from Depth Charge's back, deeply disturbed.

"It wouldn't matter if we did." Depth Charge replied. "It's not an injury to his body; it's his spark that's in pain."

_It would help Optimus carry him__, _passed trough his mind.

But the ray wasn't keen on supporting that idea right now. Rampage's earlier comparison about being nothing but a spark, unable to even voice its pain, was still fresh in his mind as well as his own strangely silent dream. If someone was in pain they at least had the right to cause the rest of the world a little difficulty, he decided.

"I'll just try to get back to base as soon as possible then, in case something caused Cheetor to get delayed." Optimus shouted and sped ahead.

Depth Charge continued to fly at a lower speed, aware that his own cargo did not have all of his strength to hold on.

Silverbolt shifted uncomfortably on his back.

"He just helped us. That's not how we should have thanked him."

"Yeah…" the ray trailed. "Well, he was acting on his own behalf as well."

"Doesn't matter."

"Yeah, I know…"

_What was I after? It seems like he's been paying for his actions all along._

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**A/N:** Yay, another chapter done. Er, well, "yay" is probably not what I should be saying considering what I just did to those poor guys… Send your hugs for them in a review!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Nooot miiiine. Beast Wars belongs to Hasbro. Now go away. No, wait, I mean, read the story!!

**A/N:** Phew! Finally! Sorry for the delay but there were exams and… BEAST WARS: THE MOVIE project!!! Which is going really well :D Thanks to everyone who is participating!

Quickstrike's nickname for Inferno is a little wink for someone from the movie forum.

Now, don't you worry, this story is going back to regular updates now that I'm less busy :D.

There's a huge author's note at the end but read it if you like, it explains the dedication.

**Chapter ten**

_Dedicated to Gerry because they could never get her mad enough._

"Hey, Rhinox, Rattrap, we found Silverbolt but Blackarachnia has been kidnapped and…" Cheetor skidded to a halt at the sight of both Rattrap and Rhinox gaping at him.

The rhino was frozen with Rampage's spark gripped in his hand.

"What are you…? NO!"

The cat dashed forward, transforming in mid-stride and snatching the item from the green robot's now limp fingers.

Rattrap finally managed to close his mouth and shake off the shock he had experienced at seeing Cheetor (whom they had imagined dead a few moments ago) bust into the control room at full speed.

"Hey, kiddo, what happened to ya'll? You were gone for ages and we sorta assumed… Rampage had somehow gotten ya." He finished a bit uncertainly.

"He helped us!" Cheetor enunciated hotly, his optics shifting indignantly from the spark in his hand to the two bots exchanging glances.

"Slag." Rhinox muttered and slumped into a chair but immediately jumped up again as Optimus announced his arrival trough the radio.

Nanos later the Maximal commander deposited a rasping Rampage face down on the floor, too tired to carry him further.

He glanced at Rhinox and Rattrap.

"I'm assuming you two panicked."

"Eh… It wasn't like we didn't have a reason to worry!" the rat defended.

"Maybe we should have waited longer." Rhinox admitted apologetically. "I am sorry. But between the possibility that you might be killed because we didn't act fast enough and the possibility of causing Rampage undeserved pain… Well, I'll get him something for the pain. But your death would have been irreversible."

Optimus nodded his understanding. He had to admit he would have probably done the same. He leaned down towards the crab.

"Let me hel- "

Rampage's growl was so feral that the much larger transformer quickly withdrew his hand as if burned. The other three unconsciously took a step back as the red robot slowly pushed himself from the floor with his hands and stood to his full height. Head still bowed, his flaming green optics were barely visible but they were narrowed to slits and glaring dangerously.

Rattrap had drawn his weapon and was pointing it firmly at the crab.

"Eh… fearless leader, mind getting this thing outta here now? 'Cuz it's starting to look like it's gonna bite."

And that was it.

Cold terror gripped the Maximal leader's spark before his teammate had even finished the sentence. He sensed something terrible was about to happen before his mind comprehended it.

"Rattrap!" Optimus shrieked as Rampage moved with lightening speed and tackled the small robot to the floor.

The rat screamed, first with panic and then with pain as a big piece of metal from his shoulder was torn away.

Everything happened incredibly fast.

Rhinox tried to help his friend but a kick from Rampage threw him across the room.

Optimus opened fire but the shots hitting him in the back at such a small distance seemed to only enrage the crab more.

The last of Rattrap's shrieks ended in an ugly gurgle.

_Primus, it's over!_Flashed trough the ape's processor with a chill so cold it burned.

At that moment Cheetor unfroze and squeezed the spark he was holding with all his might.

At the same time Depth Charge burst into the room, still carrying Silverbolt on his back.

Rampage gave a vicious, alien cry of pain and rage and clawed at his victim one more time before the agony made him roll over and curl into a ball, his own fingers digging an inch into his chest.

For a moment the scene froze.

In a growing dark puddle, Rattrap rasped weakly and spat mech fluid. His throat was torn and he was half dismembered.

It had only been fifteen nanos since he had made his remark.

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"So, what have you boys been up to since I've been gone?"

Blackarachnia had decided that since she was hanging in a cage from the ceiling, it was unlikely she would find anything better to do than talk to her former comrades. It wasn't on her list of favorite things to occupy her time with but she had come to the conclusion that she couldn't escape from the position where she was now. Maybe she could trick these slagheads into releasing her somehow.

Since she didn't have any particular ideas right now she would just have to start talking to them and wing it. She might even learn something valuable while she was here.

"Any new gossip?" she asked again.

"Wazzpinator been shot a lot." The bug shrugged neutrally.

"No kidding." Blackarachnia murmured and wandered for the briefest moment if that wasn't in fact a demonstration of some cunning from the grammatically challenged Predacon. The fact that Waspinator had been shot was the oldest and most unhelpful news in the world and it was almost as if he was rubbing it in her face that there was nothing to milk in this siuation.

But even if it was possible that he wasn't as dumb as he looked, she knew for a fact that the other two were twice as dumb as they looked on a good day.

"We have been protecting the Colony, traitor!" Inferno bellowed predictably and just as unhelpfully.

"We've been plannin' on kickin' some Maximal skidplates, yahoo!" Quickstrike supplied enthusiastically.

"Charming." The Widow rolled her optics.

"Hey, whydya join them Maxies anyway?" Quickstrike asked.

"Because there is only so many times I can here the word 'yeeeesss' before my circuits start shorting."

"It's cuz of that stupid wolf ain't it? I dunno what you saw in 'im! We got better men here in the Predacon's, ain't that right, Flames?"

It took all of Blackarachnia's self control not to burst into hysterics at the image of those two as great womanizers. That is to say, Quickstrike on his own was bad enough but adding Inferno to the picture was just mind-blowingly hilarious!

She coughed, half-chocking behind her pincer and deliberately looked away from the ant's earnest and completely clueless face.

And the strangest thought in the world crossed her mind. Maybe it was brought on by the very _suggestion_ that she may be attracted to Megatron's obsessively loyal second in command. She tried to imagine him in Silverbolt's place just for the fun of it. And she was completely dumbfounded when she realized there was the smallest, weirdest resemblance to Silverbolt in that happily blank expression and the way the Predacon believed in a set of rules and was largely unaware of anything beyond that.

Well, that certainly proved she was loosing it.

Who in their right mind would compare her puppy to a mechfluid-thirsty deranged pyromaniac?

She shook her head.

It was actually the Maximals' fault! She would have never taken the time to analyze these morons before she had spent some time in a faction where everything had to be studied and explained!

"Wazzpinator thinkzz Zpider-femme alwayz been Maximal. Otherwize Wazzpinator don't think Zzpider-femme would fit."

"Very smart, bug eyes, but Dinobot fit with them before me." She countered.

"Huh, fat lot of good that did him!" Quickstrike laughed, causing Blackarachnia to wince.

She didn't feel guilty for helping destroy Dinobot. This was a war and he was a warrior. He had chosen his fate.

But in light of her joining the Maximals, she kind of wished she had called sick that day.

"Raptor-bot didn't fit. That's why Raptor-bot betrayed Maximals. No Predacon fitz there."

Blacharachnia squinted suspiciously at the wasp.

Why was she suddenly paranoid about Waspinator's non-existent intelligence? Well, she couldn't tell if he was doing it on purpose but this conversation wasn't heading in a direction she found pleasant. She bared her fangs.

"Well, you don't fit here either."

The small robot peered at her from the corner.

"Here no one fitz."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Is he… going to be all right?" Depth Charge asked.

He was mentally cursing himself. How had it happened? How had he let X hurt another one of his friends?

No more pity. Never again! Ever!

Rhinox looked trough the misty window of the CR chamber. He had been pacing in front of it like crazy. It was frightening to see the always calm rhino so disturbed.

"I've set the CR to the highest parameters just in case. But Rattrap wasn't lethally damaged, he should be fine."

Despite his words though, the technician seemed unable to stand in one place.

They were all much shaken.

It had been close, too close. And even if Rattrap's injuries weren't fatal, the whole situation had been utterly terrifying.

Cheetor had been unable to stop trembling since he had dropped Rampage's spark in Depth Charge's hands like it had burned him.

After Depth Charge and Optimus had dragged Rampage out and Cheetor and Rhinox had been reassured by the reading on the CR that their friend was out of danger, the cat had retreated to his room.

Silverbolt was in the other CR and the ray was hoping these things could repair psychological damage as well. The fuzor had had one too many shocks in the last few mega-cycles.

Optimus was sitting at the table with his head in his hands and for the first time ever Depth Charge actually felt he was in the same boat with his current commander.

This however didn't help the fact that waiting in front of the CR was driving him crazy. He had to get out.

"I'll, er…" he began.

"Go get some rest." Optimus waved him away tiredly. "It's been a horrible day."

The ray nodded and exited the control room.

Normally he would go outside. But this time he was afraid to go and instead felt the urge to stick around and constantly check if everyone was all right. And for once he also really wanted to get back to his quarters and recharge.

It wasn't meant to be.

In the middle of the corridor he suddenly froze.

A faint shout of 'No! Rampage!' could be heard from Cheetor's room.

The Guardian broke into a sprint.

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**A/N:** *rubs hands* Aren't you just dying to find out what's next? I'm not. Because I know ;P.

This scene with Rattrap brought a few slightly frightening memories that still make me shiver but many good ones as well. In case you were wondering what's up with the dedication, I'll explain it here.

My dog Gery died two winters ago. But while she was still with us and not very sick, my two cats would always attack her. And I mean really attack her! Especially the older one, who is an almost miniature and very fragile Siamese. On top of that, she's a little old.

Now, Gery wasn't a very small dog. Imagine that cat viciously attacking something about five times her size. You're bound to get a reaction. There were certain periods when all of us at home were on edge. We were sure someone would eventually get killed and it would be that bloody cat. These fights were big, noisy, frightening and I was covered in scars from trying to get the three of them apart. Now, my younger cat, Betty I wasn't very worried about. She's a big, tough, black and white streetwise gypsy, not at all easy to hurt (she survived falling from the fourth floor a few times) and on top of that she's generally mild-tempered. She had managed to strike a big friendship with Gery while she was little.

Turandot, the older one though… I love her to death but she's evil. Not so much anymore but she used to be the Spawn of Lucifer. And she's really fragile. Gery could have just snapped her jaws once and broken the little devil's spine.

She never did.

She had scars criss-crossing her nose and years and the worst that ever happened to Turandot was that she would limp slightly from time to time for a day or two.

That puppy was such an angel. You have no idea what a sweet creature she was.

And this one time the fight was really huge and Gery did bite Turandot on the back. And my dad said exactly what Optimus thought: "Well, that's it, it's over."

I. Went. Cold.

And Gery just threw her to the other side of the room.

There was not a single mark on the cat.

Amidst all the fighting and shouts and claws she had picked the little minx with her teeth so gently that she was perfectly intact and just tried to get rid of her.

They just never managed to make her so angry that she would seriously hurt them and I find that amazing.

Gery died of cancer. Turandot is still alive and well and I hope she will be for many, many years yet because, like I said, I love her to pieces. The same goes for Bernadette, that little gypsy ;)

But this whole story is a tribute to one of the kindest creatures I've ever known.

I don't know if all dogs go to heaven but this one definitely did.

To Gery xxx


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** Beast Wars belong to Hasbro and it's too late in the night for me to be more original than this.

**A/N:** I like it when the story writes itself and surprises me but this thing is not listening at all! I had TOTALLY different things planned for this chapter! Well… You'll see them in the next one. Instead, you get a double helping of Cheetor, DC and Rhinox today. *shrug*

**Chapter eleven**

Depth Charge burst into the room with his weapons ready and looked wildly around for a menacing Predacon killer.

He didn't find one.

There was just Cheetor in beast mode, lying on a recharge platform and twitching slightly.

The manta blinked twice before finally lowering his gun.

His hands shook slightly with relief as the energon that had flooded his systems at the red alert now withdrew quickly.

Suddenly, he felt the urge to smack the kid over the head for scaring him like that. And on a day that had already gotten all of his circuits fried!

It wasn't Cheetor's fault though; no one had control over what they dreamed, unfortunately. He felt a pang of sympathy for the cat. Recharge was a place where you were supposed to escape the unpleasant reality. It was a dreadful feeling when you couldn't be left alone even there. He knew from experience.

Why Cheetor had not woken up when he had burst into the room was beyond him though. He hadn't been exactly quiet. And weren't cats supposed to have very good hearing?

The younger robot shouted something incomprehensible in his sleep and Depth Charge decided to do the kind thing and wake him up.

He walked to the recharge platform and cautiously put his hand on one shoulder, reluctant to startle the cat. He shook him slightly.

"Cheetor?"

No response. The young Maximal continued to mumble and twitch occasionally. Depth Charge shook him a bit harder and still got nothing.

"Cheetor!" the Guardian said loudly, already starting to worry and when that didn't work he slapped him.

Cheetor's optics flashed suddenly in alertness and he shot upright. Then froze, panting. He looked absolutely terrified. He swept a look around the room a few times before finally releasing a sigh and collapsing back on his stomach.

"Kid, you all right?" the ray asked, trying to get his teammate out of the shocked state he seemed to be in.

Cheetor glanced up at him his optics still looking scared and shook his head vigorously.

"I-I didn't- I- He was – "

"Well… It was just a dream, don't dwell on it." The larger robot said with a hint of bitterness and almost turned to leave, not knowing what else he could do in this situation.

But Cheetor still looked like his core processor was shorting out and it made the Guardian frown deeply.

True, the cat was young but he wasn't that easily fazed. He debated calling Optimus or Rhinox for a moment and letting them deal with it. But he would look like a prick even in his own eyes if he did that. They had enough on their hands; he couldn't call them just to babysit. On the other hand, he would feel guilty just leaving Cheetor in this state.

Well… He could spare a few cycles to try and calm down a teammate, couldn't he? It wasn't like he had more important things to do right now.

He half-reluctantly sat on the edge of the bunk where Cheetor had curled up miserably and was shuddering slightly.

Depth Charge struggled to come up with something to say.

He wasn't the type to sit down and comfort someone.

Or at least he wasn't anymore.

Back in the Academy he had had a talent for laughing things off. He didn't comfort people like Optimus did, with promises of compassion and understanding and motivational speeches. But whenever someone was feeling crappy, he would wave his hand, and either directly belittle the problem (This? Are you kidding me? This is nothing!) or comically exaggerate it (Yes, it's tragic all right, Stormfront, that's the worst thing that's ever happened in the history of the Universe. I'm sure you're ready to end your own life and I can't blame you for it. I'll even carry the coffin!) to such an extent that the 'bot in question would eventually also laugh about it when they were done being offended by the sarcasm.

He'd been a bit of a joker actually, until something had happened that could not possibly be belittled or laughed about.

He had been sure he would never laugh after Omicron. To his surprise, some of his sense of humor had recovered and it had even wormed its way into a few conversations with his teammates during the Beast Wars. There were even times when he felt normal again…

But not enough to tell Cheetor a bedtime story and tuck him into bed for Primus' sake!

What was he supposed to do?

He reset his voice box.

"Hey listen, if you're worried about Rampage, you shouldn't. I used to have those dreams, too, and you can learn to ignore them…"

Cheetor shook his head again.

"Y-you don't understand." He muttered. "Wasn't scared of Rampage."

"I heard you shout his name."

"H-he was in the d-dream but he's not what I'm afraid of."

Depth Charge frowned.

"Then what was it?"

Cheetor stole a glance at him.

"Depth Charge, how well do you know Rampage?" he asked gradually getting a hold of himself.

"Huh?" the ray blinked in surprise. "Well… I know his habits and his weaknesses in battle fairly well and I know about his history… Why do you ask?"

"But do you… understand him?" Cheetor pressed on. "Have you ever thought you could be like him? Do you think you have it in you to… torture other 'bots or…"

The teal transformer stared at his teammate.

"I…"

There had been a time, yes. Right after Omicron. The pain had been so bad that nothing else had mattered, least of all morals, and he had become more than aware of his darker side. He had hung on by a thread. One unlucky coincidence could have broken that thread and he might have tipped to the dark side completely. He didn't want to admit it. But what good could hiding it do? _He_ would always know. And the others didn't think very highly of him anyway, they probably wouldn't be very surprised.

So he looked at Cheetor and nodded.

"But, Cheetor, why do you ask?"

The cat looked away.

"In my dream… It started with me crushing Rampage's spark and it was awful and I didn't know why I was doing it but I didn't stop and then I had all of your sparks. The Maximals' and the Predacons' and I-I… I was torturing you." He gave Depth Charge a look full of helplessness. "And I don't know why! And today when Rattrap got attacked I hated everyone so much! First I hated Rhinox for doing this to Rampage and then I hated Rattrap for what he said and then I hated Rampage for hurting my friend and I just wanted to hurt everyone! Why?"

Depth Charge was at a loss for words but someone answered for him.

"We all have a darker side, Cheetor."

Rhinox had appeared at the door. The ray sighed in relief. He had been panicking about what he was supposed to say.

"You are a good kid, better than most." Rhinox continued, moving into the room. "And it upsets you when we end up hurting each other. I think you want us to stop and that's what this is all about. You want to have control over us enough to give us a good slap so we would all stop being bad. You dream just mixed things up as dreams often do."

"But I liked it!" Cheetor whispered miserably. "I saw Rattrap getting ripped to pieces and at first, for a moment, I liked it because I thought he deserved it! And then when I squeezed Rampage's spark for a second I enjoyed that too… I'm a Maximal, Rhinox, and you are a Maximal and those 'bots who created Rampage were Maximals so how come we think about hurting others?"

He sounded close to tears now and Depth Charge willingly stood from his place on the bunk to allow Rhinox to sit down and pet his young teammate's shoulder. The technician's face was grim.

"Everyone thinks about bad things sometimes, son, but you are still too young to worry about…"

"How old is he?"

Depth Charge and Rhinox looked at each other.

"Rampage." Cheetor clarified. "How old is he? He can't be much older than I am! So if he became like this why wouldn't I?"

"No, kid, you don't understand." Depth Charge shook his head. "You don't just wake up one day and become like Rampage without a good reason…"

He shut his mouth realizing what he had just said.

"So, you're saying he's like that for a good reason? What reason?"

The two older mechs exchanged glances and Rhinox shrugged.

"Well, I've only heard the story from Optimus, I wasn't there but from what I know he went crazy at some point. There's not much information about what exactly went wrong. They probably screwed up his programming and that's why…"

"Rampage was tortured." Depth Charge blurted out, causing the other two to stare at him open-mouthed.

"What?" Rhinox asked. "How do you know? Because if that's what he told you…" the rhino trailed off, knowing just how unlikely it was that Depth Charge would simply buy something the crab said without having solid proof.

Depth Charge mentally shot himself in the head.

He had obviously acquired a new talent for getting himself into the most awkward and insane situations lately.

Was it too late to just stomp out of the room? No, he had already dropped the bomb. Now the rest of the Maximals would pester him until he told them everything. And, quite frankly, if he had to choose, he would rather tell Rhinox and Cheetor than explain himself to Primal.

He sighed and leaned on the wall.

"I know because I've seen his memories."

"Rampage downloaded his…?" Rhinox began.

"No." the manta cut him off. "We… When I got his spark from Megatron my chest plate was ripped. Rampage tackled me and his was open and our sparks… merged for a short while."

There was absolute silence in the room following that statement. Depth Charge risked a glance. Cheetor's optics were as big as saucers.

"Holy. Matrix." The cat muttered and broke into a grin. "Why was his chest plate open? He must really like you!"

Depth Charge rolled his optics.

"I don't think he knows it could be taken THAT way!"

_Although with all the talk about kissing in the woods… Nonononononono!_

He shook his head to get rid of that thought, although a part of his processor chuckled in amusement at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

"He said he wanted me to see!" he said loudly over Cheetor's snickers.

The younger bot became serious again, as suddenly as he had started laughing.

"And what did you see?" he asked with no trace of humor left.

Depth Charge's optics faded a bit as he reluctantly remembered.

"He… was in a lot of pain. Constantly. The scientists performed all kinds of experiments on him and…"

It felt incredibly weird to have this talk and say these words out loud to someone else. Reasoning in his own head was one thing but hearing the thoughts voiced…

"The scientists never treated him like a real robot. They didn't think he was a sentient being. They thought of him just as a war machine." He finished.

Understanding dawned in Rhinox's optics.

"And when Rattrap called him 'thing'… After I had… practically tortured him… Slag. I figured right away that anyone would be livid at what we did but I still thought Rampage's reaction to rattrap was way too violent. With this new information though…"

"It's still way too violent!" Depth Charge interrupted him, his voice suddenly louder and harsher that before. "It doesn't matter what his reasons are! He has disassembled other transformers and eaten their sparks! Don't you see? When we start pitying or trusting him, we start making mistakes. Rattrap almost paid with his life."

He stomped out of the room and a little later they could hear repeated dull thuds from the general direction of his quarters.

Rhinox shook his head thoughtfully.

"The world is always more complicated than we think… You should get some normal sleep." He said more conversationally. "And no more bad dreams. You are nothing like Rampage, understood?"

He gave his young comrade one last pat on the back before leaving.

Cheetor sighed and slumped completely on his recharge platform.

This new revelation about Rampage's past had left him shocked again but he simply didn't have the energy to be worried and upset once more. Instead, his self-preservation instincts tried to bring his more carefree side to the front.

"Well, at least this story is perfect blackmail material." He muttered to himself. "If Rattrap learns about it, even Rampage won't live to hear the end of it."

He chuckled to himself.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rattrap slipped out of the CR as quietly as he could and anxiously looked around. The shadow of a giant killing crab seemed to jump at him from every corner of the dark control room.

He had never been afraid of the dark but in this particular case a part of him wished he had woken up during the day or that there had been one of his comrades there to welcome him back.

However, the bigger part of him was grateful that it was the middle of the night and there was no one here besides his own paranoid fears populating the shadows. This way he could work on his own plans without anyone interrupting.

He silently left the base.

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**A/N:** This is the second chapter I write that mainly consists of one huge conversation and this is turning into a bit of a psychology textbook but… well, that's storytellers for you, I can't help it. Review please, unless you really hate psychology textbooks ;P


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I wish they were paying me to write fan fiction. They are not.

**A/N: **I know, I know, I'm sorry, it's been ages. Blame the sun. It's impossible to work when your brain is melting. I'm barely managing to do my actual job and I'm constantly missing deadlines. It may sound strange but I've never been terribly fond of summer. Anyway, it's here and I'm really trying to get into regular posting again. :)

**Chapter twelve**

"Aww, man, I gotta be goin' nuts!" Rattrap muttered to himself as he crawled trough the tunnel, scanning three times for a trap before making a step. There had been a few traps so far but nothing really serious which was slightly disconcerting. This was one of Tarantulas' hiding spots after all; you would think it would be better protected. The lack of any real obstacles was making him even more paranoid than usual. But he didn't turn back. The reasons to try and bring Dinobot back had just gone one up. He hated to admit it even to himself but they could slaggin' well USE a good old Predacon in their ranks right now. Because Maximals obviously didn't know how to deal with Rampage. Just look at how many times they had screwed up since his very creation.

He knew he was probably just inventing stuff but he kept thinking Dinobot would have gotten Rampage away from him faster than the others did. Well, whether the raptor would have _chosen_ to do so was another matter… Rattrap almost smirked.

The fact of the matter was… Dinobot had _known_ they might need him again, right? That's why he had downloaded his memories, right? So you could almost say he was on a sort of a vacation just waiting to be brought back, right?

Yeah, right.

But thinking like that helped.

If he could just steal the technology from Tarantulas, he wouldn't need the slaggin' spider anymore. Rhinox was brilliant enough to figure out how to use it. They had Dinobot's memories. They had Rampage's spark to use to resurrect the raptor. And Tarantulas could just go to the Pit. He never trusted him and he was never interested in striking a deal with him but the possibility of what the treacherous arachnid suggested… if it was real, it was an opportunity he couldn't miss. The problem was, Optimus would dismiss the plan as too risky and would forbid him to even try to get a hold of Tarantulas' inventions. And Rattrap couldn't still the devices on his own. But at least he could get his paws on how exactly the technology would work and make Rhinox check if it was possible.

He realized he had reached the wide cavern that served as a lab. He sniffed the air and looked cautiously around. A few arachnids were scurrying around but other than that the place looked deserted. Rattrap frowned. His instincts were telling him that this was way too easy. He examined the ceiling, knowing that the spider liked to lurk there and surprise his victims by jumping on top of them.

But the whole cave seemed genuinely Tarantulas-free this time.

Still feeling a little nervous, he transformed, strode over to the main computer and powered it up.

Now the big challenge came along. Was he good enough to hack into the mad scientists' files? He narrowed his optics and set to work.

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Depth Charge punched the wall one final time and decided to give it up. Not only had he made a visible dent but if he kept going like that, he would seriously injure his hand. And he would have to go to Rhinox to patch him up if he wanted to use his hand in the next 12 to 15 megacycles. That would make him feel too stupid.

It had helped though. Banging on something hard. He would have rather punched X but the wall had the advantage of not returning his punches and failing to invent smart retorts to his cursing.

The frustration hadn't exactly passed but it had exhausted itself for the time being, leaving room for his rational processor to shyly attempt to do its job.

He sat on the recharge platform and stared thoughtfully at a random spot on the floor.

He was tempted to give Rampage's spark to Megtron for what the crab had done to Rattrap. But handing weapons to the enemy wasn't the smartest thing to do. Not to mention Megatron was barking mad right now, there was no telling what he would do if he got his hands on such a psychotic killer again. Plus…

There was the promise. Which he had been exceptionally stupid to make in the first place. What had possessed him anyway?

He could break it. Of course he could. If it came to that. If that was the only way to save Blackarachnia. It's not like it meant much. He had mostly made it because he needed to get Rampage to follow, right? Right? And it's not like Rampage would beli-

But he had, hadn't he?

There had even been a bit of humor in the conversation.

Yeah, and a megacycle later Rattrap was lying on the floor in pieces in a puddle of his own mech-fluid.

Enough moral reasoning. This was what they had to do:

They would just have to keep Rampage contained while they attempted a rescue mission and use him as a last resort if they didn't manage to get the spider out. If they did manage however, he would go back to his original plan and destroy the killer's spark.

Nice and simple.

He ignored his common sense telling him that things were never as simple as he planned them.

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Rattrap managed to finish way before dawn and slipped back out the way he had come. Easy as a piece of energon crystal. Of course, there had been a lot of protection on the files but nothing impossible for him to break. The spider was evidently dumber than he had given him credit for. He rode off happily back towards the base before anyone could notice his absence.

Someone waited for the noise of tires to fade into the distance before finally beginning to cackle. It started as a small laugh. Then another one. And in the space of a few kliks the owner of the voice was in hysterics.

Back in the Maximal base Rattrap pretended to just have come out of the CR when Optimus entered the control room. Then downloaded the files to his own computer and after debating with himself for a bit decided they would have to wait for a more suitable moment. They were all busy with Rampage and the hostage situation. He would have to wait until his comrades were more willing to help him with the last parts of his plan.

But now that he had the know-how, he felt much better. It was possible. The information he had stolen was proof that it was possible, he was sure of it.

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"So let me get this." Megatron leaned threateningly forward in his throne. "The reason I was locked outside my own command room was because Blackarachnia somehow got loose, took control of the main computer and started shooting at you with our own guns. Then she shot Inferno." He glanced at the pile of ant parts at his feet. "But the two of you managed to get her."

Quickstrike and Waspinator nodded fast.

The spider was back in her cage, unconscious.

Megatron considered this. It sounded ridiculous but then again, his troops were quite stupid enough to have let the spider get loose somehow. And considering that they were three against one, it wasn't completely implausible that they had caught her afterwards.

"Then what?"

"Then two-head and Wazzpinator tortured zpider-bot and sent the video to maximals!" Waspinator said as evilly as it was possible to say something with a voice like his.

"We knew you were meaning to do that anyway, boss." Quicktrike joined in.

"And I was planning on enjoying every minute of it, yesss! You've deprived me of one of life's little pleasures. However, considering that you were not quite idiotic enough to let her escape, there will be no punishment this time."

The two heaved a sigh of relief. Their leader was in a better mood today.

"Now get Inferno repaired. As for the widow, shoot her as soon as she comes back online. If she got out once, she could do it again. Take no chances. And I want no other disturbances! Tarantulas and I are working on something important!"

The T-Rex left the room. A few kliks passed without anyone moving. Then the femme in the cage powered one optic.

"Is Purple-face gone?" she asked in a hiss.

"Wazzzpinator think so." The bug nodded.

"Then you'd better make sure Inferno doesn't wake up anytime soon."

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Sometime around midday, the Maximals had received a recording from the Predacon base. The recording featured Blackarachnia, Quicktrike, Waspinator and a lot of screams.

It was followed by a message from Quickstrike, stating that if the Predacon's didn't get Rampage's spark by sunset, there would be Consequences.

That sped things up quite a bit. They had almost gotten to the point when they had had to shoot Silverbolt to prevent him from flying off immediately to rescue his beloved. Optimus had finally managed to reason with him that it was pointless to attack the predacons on his own and that it was more likely to prompt Megatron into killing his prisoner. They would have to go ahead with the rescue plan Optimus and Rhinox had been working on the previous night and that morning.

It was an extremely risky plan but it just might work.

Cheetor attempted to whine about not being included but Optimus cut him off pretty quickly. Depth Charge had to come with them with Rampage's spark so he could exchange it for Blackarachnia if everything else failed. Optimus refused to let anyone else lead the mission and they needed Rattrap to infiltrate the Predacon ship and Silverbolt to help him (both because they might have to face a few of the predacons and because the fuzor was adamant about going. The problem however was that the Predacon base was not quite as easy to infiltrate as it had been in the past. They had had to go quite inventive this time.

"Buddy, are ya SURE sure this thing will hold?" Rattrap looked doubtfully at a bigger, stranger and way more advanced version of the little submarine Blackarachnia had designed once to send him underwater. This one didn't have any windows and it was covered in armor taken from an empty stasis pod and had equipment suitable for digging.

"Would I wish you dead?" Rhinox asked matter-of-factly.

Rattrap's gut instinct was to whine to the skies. This LOOKED more like a suicide than most of the things he had whined about in the past. But he trusted Rhinox and he had seen the tape. And he was also seeing Silverbolt's face. There were times when a rat had to shut up.

"I guess it's gonna be the ride of my life…" he sighed.

"I would go trough fire and water to save my lady!" Silverbolt declared with every bit of seriousness.

"Well, lava's kinda like liquid fire, so I guess ya get both." The rat muttered unhappily.

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**A/N:** First of all, PLEASE comment because as you can see I sort of need a kick to get writing in this hot weather.

Second of all, in case you were wondering, it's possible to dig trough lava. I checked.

And for those of you who are missing Rampage, don't worry he'll be back. Obviously, since this whole thing is sort of centered on him. But we need to advance the plot too, not just have him and DC exchange meaningful dialogue.

And I have no idea why DC is always overloading his processor in this fic. He just does it; it's out of my control. Maybe he's compensating for years of not thinking. Next thing in the list of things he hasn't done enough: get wasted and order a prostitute. ;P


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** OMG, I'm reading this and cringing. Grammar? Style? What's that? Not to mention the tackiness. This whole thing is getting a huge rewrite as soon as I get a chance. This chapter I am going to post now is equally bad if not worse than the previous ones and on top of that, it's short. I hadn't posted it until now because it sucks, it's lazy and badly composed and edited. But I have to resurrect this story with something before I get back and rewrite it properly and I thought some of the people who have been writing to me to continue this would be happy to receive some sort of update even if it's not exactly great. So yes, this story is alive. I won't say it's alive and well because from what I'm seeing it's not well at all but what can you do, I was young, hehe. Either way, I like the plot of it, just not the writing. So I'll try to find the time to make the writing better. It might not go fast though. I am trying to finish an actual novel here as well as apply for a PhD in genetics so those two things kind of take precedence. But I haven't forgotten you all, thank you so much for the encouragement and I hope you have fun.

**Chapter thirteen**

_For Syntia who prompted me to post this_

"Yeeess!" Megatron chuckled quietly to himself as he watched from above the perplexed group of Maximals gathered in front of the Predacon base. They were trying to get the attention of the Predacon leader and receiving no response from within. That was because the three functioning Predacons were hovering high above the scene, Quickstrike being carried by Waspinator. "Those idiots will be knocking on our door all day while we take control of their base."

"But, Megatron, what if they manage to enter the base?"

"Ah, my dear Quickstrike, I would not be worried about that. Once the Maximals get tired of waiting and go inside, they will be in for a surprise, yesss. A deadly surprise. I would have preferred to wait for Inferno to be repaired before setting this plan in motion but we cannot wait. Where did you put him?"

"Ant-bot izzz hidden in the woodzz. Wazzpinator glad Wazzpinator not the one waiting in piecezz to be zzaved this time."

"I would have preferred for Waspinator to be in pieces and for someone more useful to be here, yess, but they have only left the cat to guard their base. We'll deal with him easily and by the time we get back, the Maximals will be dead and I will easily retake possession of Rampage's spark. Tarantulas is missing in action yet again but his gadgets have given us the strategic advantage. Our dear Silverbolt has not yet discovered he is carrying a bug. Shall we see if we can still hear them from inside the lava lake?" He took out a small black device and pushed a button.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

"Can't dis thing move any quicker? Even my whiskers are sweatin'! I don' wanna be rat barbecue!"

"We must endure! My lady is waiting to be rescued and we cannot let her down. To think what pain she has undergone…"

"Hey, hey, don't go all teary-eyed on me now. I'm doin' dis ain't I?"

"And I am eternally grateful to you for your noble…"

"Shut up and concentrate, you've slowed down so much it's like we ain't moving at all."

"It is not me. We are not moving. I fear… something is malfunctioning."

"Something is malfunctioning?! We are surrounded by lava and you tell me something is malfunctioning? We're all gonna die, aren't we?"

"If by 'all' you mean you and I, that seems to be a possibility, sadly. My poor lady! Let us hope Optimus will manage to make the exchange."

"… gimme the radio! Optimus? Optimus? Heeeeeeelp!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Somewhere high above, Megatron laughed and flew ahead, leading his two subordinates towards the Maximal base.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xx

They were going to do it. Maximal goodness and proper treatment of prisoners be damned, they were going to condemn him to a fate worse than death. Hah. Death. Death was nothing next to what Megatron would do to him.

He had tried to come up with a plan to escape but the security measures in his prison were surprisingly effective. Most likely he had Depth Charge to thank for that. He couldn't escape on his own. The best he could do was to try and manipulate the cat to let him go and then call the Maximals and threaten to rip their comrade apart if they didn't bring his spark back. Would they choose the kitty or the widow? Normally, he would enjoy finding out. However, _normally,_ his own freedom did not depend on the direction their worthless moral code would take them. He was quickly running out of time. He could feel Depth Charge growing tenser by the moment. The group of Maximals were probably at the Predacon base by now. Maybe they were already bargaining. Once they made the exchange and Megatron got to be in charge of him again, Rampage would be helpless.

He was sure there were security cameras around, even if he couldn't see them. He was just wondering what the best way was to attract attention, when he sensed the cat coming in his direction of his own volition. Cheetor came into view and stopped uncertainly at the entrance.

"Got lonely, kitty?" Rampage asked, cocking his head.

"No. But I'm supposed to guard you. I can do that better if you're in front of my eyes."

"You're lying. You're nervous and trying to find a way to distract yourself."

"Yeah? And you're scared Depth Charge will give your spark back to Megatron."

Rampage narrowed his eyes. "Scared? No. Dreading it? Of course. Would you not? The idea bothers me – that's expected. It doesn't seem to bother you – also expected."

A slightly confused blink from Cheetor. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know what the difference is between Maximals and Predaconds, kitty? Predacons are less often such great hypocrites. You and your precious Maximal friends will let me be tortured in spite of your highly held moral ideals."

Cheetor shifted uncomfortably and Rampage could sense conflict. So easily affected, this one.

"They'll try not to. They will only do it if they have to in order to save Blackarachnia's life."

"And that is worth my suffering."

"Well… yes. It's a life."

Rampage approached the bars, keeping his optics fixed on his companion. "You think death is the worst thing that could happen to someone, kitty?" He chuckled darkly. "I would so like to prove you wrong. I could probably keep you alive for a long time if I tried. Only when you beg for death will you understand that the worst things are always left for the living. Pain can only go on as long as you are…" He paused. An emotion was nagging at him and it wasn't coming from the cat. Suspicion. The ray was probably being paranoid again. He wished briefly for Depth Charge to stop running interference with his conversation before suspicion turned into fury and he knew things were not going according to plan for the Maximals.

At that moment, there was a deafening explosion and the floor beneath their feet trembled.

**End note:** Not only is it bad but it's cliff-hangery. The horror. Do review to encourage me to work on this. Thanks, guys!


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